With the demand for real estate in Vancouver as high as it is, coupled with a lack of supply, a house going for more than its asking price is often simply a case of a desirable home that catches the eye of multiple buyers.

Lately, however, many buyers and “would be” buyers, have been subject to an “underpricing strategy” that entrenches homebuyers against one another in an unwanted bidding war. It’s an artfully engineered dance created by some Listing Agents, and it’s leaving a bad taste in many mouths, including ours.

The underpricing strategy has one purpose: to stage an attractively priced property below market value, attract multiple offers, and create a competitive bidding platform with several potential buyers. The hope is that the bidding war will drive up the price above the property’s asking price. Sometimes, it can sell for over 50% higher than the original listed price!

We’re not saying a homeowner shouldn’t get as much as they can for their property, but prospective buyers should have the expectation that a “listing price” is reasonably close to the homeowner’s desired “selling price”. Otherwise buyers lose faith in the selling process, which isn’t good for the real estate industry and our community in general.  For us, it’s no different than a car dealership advertising a car for well under market value with no expectation of selling the car for that price.

Bidding wars can create an unnecessary feeling of mistrust and anxiety in an already stressful buying market. Prospective home buyers, driven by emotion, frustration, and fear of losing out on a potential home resort to putting in offers with family photos, and personal notes in an attempt to appeal to the better nature of the seller and become the successful bidder. As community and people minded project development marketers with close ties to our homeowners, we can’t help but wonder at how successful these strategies really are.

rareEarth approaches each new home community we sell with a buyer-centric framework to make the process of buying as simple and fair as possible. We work closely with our developers, architects, interior designers, lenders and new home sales teams to ensure we are creating an authentic community through an open and genuine sales process.

Our passion is to engage with people in positive ways through the design of livable homes, public amenities, and genuine caring sales relationships – these are the pillars of our organization. We believe in an ethical and fair sales process to establish community ties and deep rooted care and trust that extends well beyond the purchase of your first, second, or third home, and into the future. At its core, that’s what home owning should be.