No, I don’t mean that crummy movie with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino, I’m talking about the act of taking a position opposite of what you actually believe just for the sake of argument.

I’m talking about seeing both sides to the equation in order to make things more clear.

Sometimes it’s harder to do than you might think, like in today’s multiple offer scenario…

Aaaaaah sweet, sweet democracy!  Who doesn’t love freedom?  Take that a step further—who doesn’t love free markets?

Well, I’m sure there are those that love democracy but don’t like the idea of a free market, and to them I say “too bad!”

Our real estate market is as free as the smiles they give out at McDonalds, and it works with very few restrictions.

I read an article in the National Post two Saturdays’ past about a young man who desperately wanted to buy a condominium in downtown Toronto but was tired of losing in the multiple offer process.

To him, I say, “Too bad!”

The market is free and open, and seller’s are free to hold back on offers, they are free to under-list their properties in order to make them more attractive, and they are free take their properties off the market as they see fit—even if they are offered more than their asking price!

Nobody can force you to sell your home.  Should they be able to?  And just who is “they” anyways?

In the article, the young man was saying that sellers shouldn’t be allowed to underprice their homes to such an extent in order to cause multiple offer scenario’s.  He argued that it was “unfair” to people like him that just wanted to buy a property and not deal with all the “B.S.”

What do I have to say to that?  Well….what is that phrase where a word starting with the letter “f” is inserted in between the term “boo-hoo?”

In a true free market, the sellers can choose how they want to list their properties, and let the market respond!  Just who or what can tell somebody if their house is “too underpriced?”  I can only think of one thing: the market.  And that’s why ours works the way it does.

So where does my whole devil’s advocate idea fit in to all this?

In late July, a property came on to the market that was perfect for my client, Ian.  We had been looking in Kensington Market for quite some time, and after losing in multiple offers once before by quite a bit, we were elated to see this small property listed for $249,000.

There was one glaring catch, however: The seller and his agent would not be reviewing offers until August 12th.  Aaah yes, the “holdback” we are all so familiar with.

Using my fingers and toes, I counted a whopping TWENTY days in between this property being listed and the time at which offers would be reviewed.

I had never seen this before.

I advise my sellers to holdback on offers (if they decide to do so at all) for a period of eight days; bring the property out on Tuesday, take offers the following Wednesday.  But this agent was waiting almost three weeks to review offers!

The second catch is that the agent was asking for the offer to be irrevocable for 48 hours, meaning that the offer was “good” for two full days before it would expire.  This usually happens with estate sales or where the seller is overseas, but in this case I had my doubts…

Ian was disappointed to say the least.  He thought that during the three weeks, his excitement for this property had cooled significantly, and that it gave him far more time to doubt himself.

We submitted an offer on the property yesterday afternoon, and at the time we did so, there was only one other offer.  Our offer was above the asking price, and felt we had a good shot to get the condo.

At about 5PM, the listing agent called me and asked for more money.

He asked for more money.

Now, he didn’t actually ask for more money, but what he said was this: “We’ve got three offers, and they’re all very nice offers indeed.  We’re gonna head home for the night, and we’re going to come back to the table tomorrow afternoon, so during this time if your client would like another kick at the can, they are more than welcome to do so.  The offers are all irrevocable for 48 hours, so time is on our side.  Maybe your client will think differently after he sleeps on it.”

Oh, wow!  What a sales job!  I went through every single emotion possible when I heard this: anger, resentment, distrust as well as awe, envy, and pride.

I was so mad at this agent for playing such ridiculous games, but at the same time, I realized just how hard he was working for his seller to extract every last penny for the property!

Ian was not happy at all, and resented the whole offer process.  He didn’t understand why they held back offers for three weeks, why they wanted 48 hours to review the offers, or why they didn’t just take the highest offer and end it there.

Usually, in a case like this, the offers would have been dealt with last night.  They would review them, talk to the buyers, “send them back” for more money if they felt it was warranted, and then the deal would get done.

But with this property in Kensington, they decided to let the buyers “sleep on it” in order to see who wakes up and says to him/herself, “Man, I just gotta have this condo!  At any cost!”

Very shrewd.

While I don’t like the antics at all, I see the other side to the equation.  The listing agent has come up with a very unique “strategy” if you could call it that, and clearly it worked since he got three offers and is going to get his seller a great price.

Now since I’m working with a buyer-client, I absolutely loathe what the listing agent has done.  I think it’s despicable, outrageous, and unfair.  However…..if I were working with a seller-client, and I did the same thing, I’d pat myself on the back for being so inventive, unique, and clever.

There are always two sides to a story, two sides to a coin, and two parties to a transaction in real estate.

What goes around, comes around, and a buyer will get a chance to be a seller….eventually…