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There are advantages and disadvantages to the various negotiating
strategies you can employ in multiple offer negotiations. A low initial
offer may result in buying the property you desire for less than the listed
price – or it may result in another buyer’s higher offer being accepted.

On the other hand, a full price offer may result in paying more than the
seller might have required. In some cases there can be several full price
offers competing for the seller’s attention – and acceptance.

Your buyer-representative will explain the pros and cons of these
(and possibly other) negotiating strategies. The decisions, however, are
yours to make. Purchase offers generally aren’t confidential. In some
cases sellers may make other buyers aware that your offer is in hand, or

even disclose details about your offer to another buyer in hope of
convincing that buyer to make a “better” offer. In some cases sellers will
instruct their listing broker to disclose an offer to other buyers on their

behalf.
Listing brokers are required to follow lawful, ethical instructions
from their clients in the same way that buyerrepresentatives must follow

lawful, ethical instructions from their buyer-clients. While some
REALTORS® may be reluctant to disclose terms of offers, even at the
direction of their seller-clients, the Code of Ethics does not prohibit such

disclosure. In some cases state law or real estate regulations may limit
the ability of brokers to disclose the existence or terms of offers to third
parties.
You may want to discuss with your buyer-representative the

possibility of making your offer confidential, or of establishing a
confidentiality agreement between yourself and the seller prior to
commencing negotiations. Realize that as a represented buyer, your

broker likely has other buyer-clients, some of whom may be interested
in the same properties as you are. Ask your broker how offers and
counter-offers will be presented and negotiated if more than one of her
buyer-clients are trying to buy the same property. Appreciate that your

buyer-representative’s advice is based on past experience and is no
guarantee as to how any particular seller will act (or react) in a specific
situation.

Information for Sellers
It’s possible you may be faced with multiple competing offers to
purchase your property. Your listing broker can explain various

negotiating strategies for you to consider. For example, you can accept
the “best” offer; you can inform all potential purchasers that other offers