This has a common questions that my Santa Clarita Home Buyer clients ask. Should they place offers on more than one Santa Clarita home, at the same time?

No. You should give the seller 24-72 hours to respond, counter, or accept your offer… then move on after that if you’re in a rush. 

That is my short answer.

Now if you’re interested in the why… read on. 

When you make an offer, you should make it in good faith. If your offer is accepted at terms you set or agreed to, you should have the ability to move forward and open escrow. By not dealing in good faith you run the risk of a lawsuit and or losing your good faith deposit which is usually thousands of dollars.

Making multiple offers on different Santa Clarita Homes at the same time… 

Imagine you, being the seller. You receive two offers from buyers who show proof of their down payment and also that they’re qualified for their loan. You select the best offer. You then reject the other offer. Some hours pass…. your Santa Clarita real estate agent notifies the buyers agent that their offer has been accepted. Your agent then notifies the other agent that their client’s offer has been rejected. Some more hours pass. Finally the successful buyer, who’s offer was accepted learns about the good news. Unfortunately, they made multiple offers on different homes at the same time, and they decide to go with a home other than yours. And what’s worse than that… the offer you rejected has found a different home that was just listed and they prefer to go with that one. Now, you’re a seller with no offers. $%^&!! is right.

Does this seem fair to the seller? I don’t think it does, and it’s not ethical on your part as a home buyer. It’s not ethical of your real estate agent either to submit your multiple offers knowing that you’ll only be buying one home.

Other than a seller coming after you for damages, and the potential nightmare that could pose for you, it really puts your real estate agent in a bad spot. I personally pride myself on the relationship I have with numerous other real estate agents that serve the Santa Clarita Valley. If I have a client come to me, and ask if they can submit offers on multiple homes at the same time with the intention of buying one, I flat out won’t entertain the option. No, is the answer. There are many real estate agent that will help them do just that. It just won’t be me. The high majority of my Santa Clarita home buyer clients benefit from my relationship with local agents. I’m able to get my clients’ offers accepted with greater success, due to my relationship with other Santa Clarita agents. If I made a habit of helping the fringe buyers who want to place offers on multiple properties at the same time, I’d slowly but surely ruin my reputation and thereby hurt my future clients chances at getting their offers accepted.

It’s very common for investor-types to make offers on more than on property. It’s a numbers game to them, and it’s a seller’s market, so they need every chance at adding more homes to their portfolio. Typically they’re making offers on distress properties. Making multiple offers on more than one distressed property at the same time, such as short sales, creates the possibility that you could inadvertently propel the homeowner in default closer to a foreclosure if the bank refuses to grant more time to search for a new buyer once they learn that YOU are no longer there waiting for short sale approval.

It’s A Seller’s Market

Because it’s a Seller’s Market in the Santa Clarita real estate market, it’s a bit more difficult for home buyers to get their offer accepted. This is why the question is asked more frequently these days. None-the-less, the above issues with placing multiple offers on homes at the same time still applies, regardless of the market conditions we have.

Now in all fairness, it’s rare, in my experience, that a seller will come after the buyer for not moving forward with the purchase. The seller wants to sell, and the buyer just wants to buy. Because the seller wants to sell, they’ll usually just move on and find the next buyer and not seek any recourse for not performing on your offer. BUT. You just never know you you’re dealing with, do you?