Would you ever propose to someone after you only had seen a photo of them on Facebook or Tinder?
Would you believe that we have received several offers on properties we have listed SIGHT UNSEEN? (meaning neither the Buyer or the Buyer’s agent viewed the house before presenting an offering on it)
Would you believe that each time this has happened the offer has come in at or over asking price?
In our Seller’s Market this is becoming more common. You may be asking yourself – Why would a person do such a thing when only relying upon a few MLS photos and a property description. Here are a couple of reasons a person might be offering sight unseen;
- There may be no showings or no offers until a certain date and the Buyer is trying to avoid a multiple offer situation. They are hoping to tempt the Seller to just work with their offer rather than waiting to see what else might come.
- Buyer lives in another area and can’t get to the house to see it before offers are reviewed. We see many investors coming from Toronto or other neighbouring cities.
There are huge risks involved in offering on a property that you haven’t seen for yourself. Firstly, a pre-printed clause in the Agreement of Purchase & Sale reads
INSPECTION: Buyer acknowledges having had the opportunity to inspect the Property and understands that upon acceptance of this offer there shall be a binding agreement of purchase and sale between Buyer and Seller.
If in fact you didn’t see/inspect the property prior to having an offer accepted you would need to ensure this clause is crossed out of your offer. You might be VERY surprised that the property isn’t what you bargained for when you offered. Although I certainly would love a scratch and sniff button on MLS photos, we can only do so much to get an ideas of what a property is like without going inside to see it for yourself. One of our Buyers had coined the phrase as bring “pictured” when he sees MLS photos and thinks that they have a winner only to be disappointment when we actually view the property.
In my opinion, it speaks volumes and give a level of seriousness to your offer when you see a home before making an offer. At the very least – date before a proposal or in other words take a few minutes to view the property before offering to buy.
