DALLAS — Multiple offers and bidding tens of thousands of dollars over listing price are par for the course in Dallas-Fort Worth’s frenzied housing market. But now, prospective buyers are resorting to love letters and plenty of cold, hard cash to tug at the heartstrings and purse strings, respectively, of sellers.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Frisco-based JP & Associates Realtors, was asked what unusual things he or his agents are experiencing in this seller’s-market-on-steroids in which homes are flying off the market, often at tens of thousands of dollars above list price, after the sellers receive a dozen or more offers. Johnson ran my query up the flagpole with his team.
"In virtually every market, buyers are pulling out all the stops," Johnson said. "We're seeing all kinds of different stories."
Associate Pam Smith said the craziest thing she’s seen was a cash offer, and the earnest money was the full amount of the cash offer. “Yes,” she said, “the offer was accepted!”
Associate Gisella “Gigi” Olivo said that on the seller’s side, because of the low inventory, she is seeing a lot of creative, multi-offer situations including over-asking-price cash, full appraisal waivers, shorter option periods, complimentary leasebacks so the seller continues to live in the house for free for weeks or more after the sale closes, and more earnest and option money than normal.
“Basically it’s whatever the seller needs or wants,” she said.
On the buyer’s side, Olivo has helped out-of-town buyers purchase sight unseen. She helped movers unload the furniture of a relocation buyer who was out of state.
First-time homebuyers are having an especially hard time in this market, particularly if they can only afford a small deposit, Olivo said.
“My clients are writing love letters in hopes of pulling at the seller's heartstrings,” she said.
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