Yesterday, Thursday 2/27/25 was our regularly scheduled broker’s tour in Central and West Marin. Wednesdays are broker’s tours for Southern Marin and Novato. Tour hours can vary. The Wednesday tour is from approximately 9:30am – 12:30pm. The Thursday window is anywhere from 10am-2pm, but sometimes it’s truncated to 11am-1pm which gets kind of tight for Realtors wanting to see as many properties as possible. The important thing for buyers to know is that they are welcome to checkout properties on tour, and not wait for the weekend open houses.
Sometimes buyers will make pre-emptive offers after seeing properties on tour. If buyers want those offers to be accepted, they need to at least be at the asking price, if not significantly above. Strong terms like no contingencies, tight time frames, and all cash go a long way towards getting an offer accepted prior to the first public open house. Generally, I wait until after the first broker’s tour to decide if we will wait until the following week to look at offers. In some cases, like my listing at 555 Tamarack Drive which I held open yesterday, I already determined from pre-market activity that it would be best to wait on offers until next week. The reason for waiting to review offers is the expectation that we will get one or more.
Whenever I hold a house open for the first broker’s tour it’s always a great sign when we get one or more prospective buyer who tours the property. That was the case yesterday on Tamarack, so everything is heading in the right direction on that listing. When setting an offer date, the question of timing is important. You don’t want to look at offers too early in the week. Monday is too much of a rush for buyers to get all their ducks in a row. By Wednesday other homes are on the market, and you may find buyers inclined to remain on the sidelines for another weekend. That’s why I like reviewing offers, if any, on Tuesdays.
Some Realtors like to wait until after a second weekend of open houses to look at offers. The rational is that more buyers will have an opportunity to preview the property. Often, I find that it’s more beneficial to the listing agent who is looking to drum up more business and exposure through a second weekend of open houses. I’ve seen this strategy backfire though, for the same reason I don’t like to wait until Wednesday or later in the week to review offers. Other properties come on the market, buyers have more choices, and one who might have made the best offer goes another direction. Carpe diem, when someone wants to make a good offer, I don’t think it’s wise to put them off for more than a week on the market.
So, this coming Tuesday we’ll be reviewing offers, if any, on 555 Tamarack Drive. I had the property on Coming Soon status in the MLS for 30 days as we prepared the property for the market. It was only going to be 14 days, but we wisely called an audible and decided to refinish the hardwood floors which pushed back our timing. The whole house is much more attractive with beautiful floors, as opposed to 20+ year old carpet. It’s staged too, and ready for the next owners to envision their future. At this point, I’m very much looking forward to Tuesday!