7720 Goodland closed and multiple offers are no fun

7720 Goodland in North Hollywood closed last week for $31,000 over asking.  We had fourteen offers.  I know that multiple offers aren't fun for buyers, but they are not fun for sellers either.  Of the fourteen, half were cash and half required a loan.  Half were above asking, half were below.  I had about 25 individuals asking me if I would write an offer for them.  I said no, because I hate doing dual agency in that situation -- the folks asking me to write are just looking for an angle in order to get their offer pushed.

If you're in a multiple offer situation, here's what NOT to do:
- Come in with a low price if the comparables don't warrant that.  Unfortunately, sellers are more interested in dollars than they are interested in your pretty face.
- Turn in incomplete offers.  Please make sure your agent checks all the boxes.
- Don't provide enough proof of funds to close.  I was surprised at how many buyers turned in offers without proof of enough liquid funds to cover the down payment and closing costs.  Or turned in old financial statements -- please make them current.  Or turned in financials that didn't have any of the actual buyers' names on them.  Yes, I know your parents love you but I need to see money in your name, not theirs'. Yes, we Realtors do look at that and, surprisingly enough, most of us can count.

The transaction went...okay.  The agent turned everything over to an unlicensed, untrained assistant, so that was a challenge.  And the buyer wanted to do additional inspections after she had already removed her inspection contingency.  But the transaction closed.

And by the way, we did NOT take an all-cash offer -- we took one with 20% down and a conventional loan!