I snapped up a 2 bedder in Sydney's inner west with this tactic recently. I didn't place a specific deadline, rather, I truthfully mentioned I had my eye on a few other places and would want to hear back soon. The agent said I'd know that afternoon. A few hours later contracts were exchanged.
It went down like this:
- Apartment listed online late tuesday evening, set to go to auction 5 weeks later
- Immediately emailed agent with Qs, and requested a contract
- Did my due diligence before the weekend -- no problems
- Got a section 66W (relinquishing my right to a cooling off period)
- Turned up at first open with a contract, S66 and blank cheque
- Inspected
- Was satisfied
- Grabbed agent at end of open
- Signed contract
- Whipped out S66W
- Wrote cheque for 10%
- Told agent I had my eye on other apartments, would like to hear back soon
- Heard back from him as soon as he'd talked to the vendors (after finishing his other opens for the day)
- Exchanged that arvo
I had thought about making a time specific deadline but in a hot market with plenty of good stock available, I believed the vendor and agent would realise I was being honest in mentioning my interest in other properties and they've get back to me soon enough. After all, an unconditional offer on a property that's headed to auction can create some certainty and be tempting.
Won't pan out every time, but worked out well for that one.
It went down like this:
- Apartment listed online late tuesday evening, set to go to auction 5 weeks later
- Immediately emailed agent with Qs, and requested a contract
- Did my due diligence before the weekend -- no problems
- Got a section 66W (relinquishing my right to a cooling off period)
- Turned up at first open with a contract, S66 and blank cheque
- Inspected
- Was satisfied
- Grabbed agent at end of open
- Signed contract
- Whipped out S66W
- Wrote cheque for 10%
- Told agent I had my eye on other apartments, would like to hear back soon
- Heard back from him as soon as he'd talked to the vendors (after finishing his other opens for the day)
- Exchanged that arvo
I had thought about making a time specific deadline but in a hot market with plenty of good stock available, I believed the vendor and agent would realise I was being honest in mentioning my interest in other properties and they've get back to me soon enough. After all, an unconditional offer on a property that's headed to auction can create some certainty and be tempting.
Won't pan out every time, but worked out well for that one.