Using 'Off Market' Tactics to Find Hidden Housing Inventory

In today’s tight real estate market where low inventory is still an issue, a great real estate agent deploys ‘off market’ strategies to help find the perfect home for their clients.

Case in point, a client of ours wanted to live on Main Street, Unionville, a coveted area where, at the time, there wasn’t anything for sale. 

 

We went to work using some ‘outside the box’ creative approaches to find an interested seller. Through our efforts, we actually found two motivated sellers; a couple who had recently decided to separate, and the other was a fellow who had just agreed to a work transfer.

 

Three months later, our client was living in a gorgeous home on Main Street, Unionville.

 

Buying and selling off-market happens more often than people think, especially on the selling side.

Today, most people won’t list their house for sale until they have found their next home.  With a continual shortage of listings on the market, it’s important to offer our buyer clients exclusive properties that are not yet available on the MLS.  We call this ‘off market' inventory and it’s out there…it just takes some digging and more effort to find it, which most agents simply won’t bother doing.

For example, if our client wanted to buy a house in an exclusive community, one technique we would use is to send a direct mail letter to every home in the neighbourhood, featuring the strength of our buyer.  We would promote that our buyer client is prequalified for a mortgage, is willing to pay market value, flexible with the closing date and working with an agent from The Procenko Group, so if the seller wants a fast sale for top dollar, without the hassle of listing their home for sale, they should contact us. Of 1,000 houses, we expect three or four sellers will respond. This technique also avoids our buyer having to compete in a bidding war and possibly over-paying for a home.

A great real estate agent deploys strategy in tandem with the conditions of the market, and today that often means going off-market.

If you think finding the right home, in the right location, at the right price is a pipe dream, give us a call.  Having us find a home on your behalf is a free service to you and it would be an honour and a privilege to help make your home-buying dream come true.