Two situations are prompting homebuyers to want to make simultaneous offers on multiple properties: 1) a hot market with multiple offers, and 2) a short sale where it may take a bank a long time to respond to an offer.

Buyers need to be aware that if they persuade some real estate agent to write simultaneous offers on multiple properties with the intent to cancel one of them during a contingency period, they may be subject to damages in favor of the seller, because of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. That’s why I will not engage in such practice as a Realtor on behalf of my home buyer clients and I will try to screen out such buyers when I represent home sellers.

If an offer to purchase real estate has a time limit for seller to respond and that time has expired, then a buyer may* have an out. If a buyer’s offer has expired, in order for a signed and delivered purchase contract to be valid, it should also have a counter signed by seller and buyer, acknowledging an extension of date of acceptance.

* A good real estate resource for legal matters is the California Association of Realtors legal website. This blog post is not intended to give specific legal advice, just general information to alert you to issues of importance; if you have an accepted contract and you find yourself as a buyer or seller in such a situation, you should contact an attorney.
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Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | 408-857-8800 | DRE #01237009

Here are several examples of recent multiple offers in Cupertino, west San Jose, Sunnyvale and Campbell (compiled by Alain Pinel Realtors colleague Mark Wong):

Cupertino:  1034 Pennington Lane - 35 offers
Listed at $875,000; Sold for $950,000+/-

Cupertino: 1115 S. Stelling Road - 10 offers
Listed at $799,000; Sold for $875,000+/-

Cupertino: 1123 Scotland Drive –  22 offers
Listed at $849,000;   Sold for $920,000+/-

West San Jose: 6570 Dartmoor Way – 20 offers
Listed at $924,000:            Sold for $970,000+/-

Sunnyvale: 825 Nectarine Avenue - 24 offers
Listed at $798,000;            Sold for $850,000+/-

San Jose: 520 Patton Avenue – 21 offers
Listed at $449,000;  Sold for $490,000+/-

Area 18 West San Jose:  10420 Pineville Ave - 12 offers
Listed at $875,000; Sold for $925,000+/-

Area 15 San Jose: 1427 Antonio Lane - 18 offers
Listed at $598,000; Sold for $650,000+/-

It seems like multiple offers are happening everywhere, not necessarily even confined to the most sought-after neighborhood with good schools.  However, if you are a homebuyer or homeseller, don’t generalize about your particular situation;  behavior is not the same in all sub-markets and at all pricepoints.

With many homes available on the market at more affordable prices in the past year, home buyers have been devoting more and more time in each of the past couple years to consider and carefully select their home during the research and buying process.

In general, home buyers devoted more time from start to finish during the home buying process. On average, they spent:

• 8.4 weeks considering buying a home in 2009, compared to 7.2 weeks in 2008
• 6.6 weeks investigating homes and neighborhoods before contacting an agent, compared to 6.2 weeks in 2008.
• 10.3 weeks searching for a home with their agent, compared to 8.7 weeks in 2008
• Home buyers on average visited 15.5 homes in 2009, compared to 15.1 homes in 2008.  

In the past, home buyers spent more time with their agent partly because they visited more homes. The increase in the number of homes visited in 2009, however, was not significantly different from 2008. The additional time spent with an agent could be attributed in part to the increase in the complexity in viewing distressed properties.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtor | 408-857-8800 | DRE# 01237009