Making An Offer On Two Different Houses At The Same Time

Hey y’all, Zach McDonald, your real estate agent with Real Property Associates. And in this video we are going to answer the question, can you make an offer on two different houses at the same time? As we jump into this video here, I want to preface it, and I’m going to be coming at this video with the angle of a traditional home buyer looking to purchase a home for themselves. And the reason I want to preface it is because I think the answer could be a little different depending on the situation. If you were a real estate investor and you’re looking to purchase multiple houses at the same time, I think it changes my answer here, but the answer I’m going to give is no. Well, yes and no, but I think if you’re a real estate investor and you’re looking to buy multiple properties, of course you can buy multiple properties at the same time or simultaneously assuming that your financing situation works.

But for the traditional buyer, the person that typically asks me this question, they’re essentially trying to hedge their bets. Well, what if I don’t get this house and I get this house? Or, what if I, you know, get two different houses and I want to choose between the two? It’s a fairly common question. I think the answer here will make sense as we dive in, but I did want to add this little preface as we get started. So I’ve essentially already spoiled the answer here. I believe the answer is no. You cannot make two offers at the same time. And that’s going again with that preface that I just gave earlier on in the video. You technically can, but I think the reason I say no and I tell clients no is because the, the whole point of making an offer is, especially in a competitive market, is to make an offer that’s going to be acceptable to the seller.

And if it’s competitive and there are multiple offers, which is what we’re seeing in the climate right now, it’s almost impossible to make an offer that’s acceptable to the seller and one that would be even considered as a favorite. If there are, let’s say there’s 10 offers on the table, if you were to hedge your bets enough to give yourself the opportunity to make two offers, so technically you could make two offers at the same time. But my argument and my, the way I present this to clients is that really you wanna put your best foot forward on your favorite house. You don’t wanna spread yourself out and make a mediocre offer on two different houses because the likelihood that either of those offers gets accepted is practically zero. But if you make a great offer and an aggressive offer and a really thoughtful offer on your favorite house, the chance that you get your offer accepted goes up dramatically. But it still doesn’t guarantee that you’re gonna get a house. So I think that’s the tension that we have to live in. But in this market right now, most houses are receiving multiple offers. Most houses are going under contract above asking price, and most houses also are having few or limited contingencies in the contracts.

That’s mainly an outflow of the competition and the multiple offers in the market. If there weren’t a whole bunch of buyers in the market, buyers would be able to make an offer that is contingent on an inspection and that would potentially give them the opportunity to back out of the contract without that inspection contingency. Though, making an offer on two different houses is not the best move because you’re essentially obligating yourself to the purchase of two different houses, and you would be obligating yourself to two different earnest money deposits or good faith deposits, and you would essentially lose one of those deposits if you were to terminate your offer and back out. As you think through the strategy, it does make sense to not put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, that philosophy and, and the ideology makes sense to essentially give yourself the best chance for success.

But what I’ve found is that buyers have the best chance of success if they consolidate, if they focus on the properties. When we’re out looking at showings, we, we look at the houses that are the most interesting, that are their favorites, and then we choose and narrow down to the top favorite, and that’s the one we pursue. And yeah, that does mean there’s gonna be other houses that are gonna go away and go under contract that we never even had a chance at, but we really do need to focus. And if we can focus, that’s gonna give you the greatest chance of success. As we wrap this video up, I’ll say this, if, if the market’s different, if it’s a slower market, so if it’s a buyer’s market, which is when the buyer has a little bit more leverage versus a seller’s market, which is what we find ourselves in today, I think this answer could be a little bit different.

I think there could be a possibility of making it offer on two different houses, but it would have to be contingent on an inspection. And this video is also made in Washington State. So if you’re watching this video and you’re not in Washington state, it could be a completely different situation. So I would consult with a real estate agent in your local market to get an answer to this question. But for me and in the Seattle Bellevue real estate market, making an offer on multiple properties at the same time, if your intent is only to purchase one, is not the best strategy. Thanks so much for watching this q and a video. I hope that it was helpful for you. I’d love some thoughts down in the comments. I’m sure there’s people out there that would disagree with me or maybe have some clarifying questions to ask. So if you wanna drop those down in the comments, please feel free and I’ll take some time to answer those here in a little bit.