Strong cash offer - not accepted

[Jeff Stoddard]

We put in our very first offer on an investment property here in Portland Maine. The property met our criteria perfectly so we went in strong with a full price cash offer. For reasons unknown to me, a different offer was accepted. I can only assume someone offered more than 100% of asking price.

I'm not going to let this discourage my REI aspirations

[b]Q: any ideas on getting creative with offers to sweeten them and set them above the rest?

I knew it was getting competitive but not this competitive.

[Joel Owens]

Hi Jeff,

You have to find the sellers currency. It is not always cash.

Sometimes they will finance for a higher price, or they need to do a 1031, or the other offer although not cash didn't have contingencies that yours did.

Did your offer include non-refundable earnest money, short inspection periods, etc.

Did you ask for a bunch of closing costs that made the net less to the seller??

So many variables to consider. What I do for my commercial clients is I talk to the listing broker before submitting the offer and ask what is the seller NOT getting that they want?? Then I see if my buyers can come close to that. The listing broker will tell me the other offers have this and this and the seller really doesn't like that. That gives me an advantage setting up the offer for my buyer in a way that appeals to what the seller is looking for. I want them to be drawn to my clients offer. I find I am much more successful with this strategy than throwing out a blanket contract that you just submit on a bunch of properties and see what sticks.

Who is the seller?? Individual, couple, partnership, institution,estate etc.??