Your Agent Can Engineer a Bidding War for Your Home—Even Before You List

Generating a bidding war for your home is the dream scenario for any seller. If multiple buyers truly value what you have and are willing to outspend one another to get it, that's the market working in your favor. 

The goal is to make that happen, and savvy sellers and their agents know how to start the process even before the home is technically for sale.

In some instances, premarket hype can help a home sell before it even goes live. But if you're simply hoping to walk into your open house with multiple eager buyers already waiting, the work starts well before you hit "active" on the Multiple Listing Service.

Understanding what 'listed' actually means

When your home is listed for sale online, it's been added to the MLS, which is primarily a tool for real estate brokers to share property information that then syndicates to consumer-facing portals. When you're on the platform, what you're looking at includes homes that are active, available to tour, and open for offers.

But "active" is just one of several MLS statuses, and some of the others are where the premarketing magic happens.

The MLS often has a "Coming Soon" status: The home is entered into the database and visible to buyers on major portals, but showings haven't begun yet.

Mike Severns, a Philadelphia-area agent who has helped clients buy and sell more than 300 homes, says the best agents use the Coming Soon period as an active intelligence-gathering tool, not just a waiting room. 

"Marketing during the Coming Soon period is about making sure as many people as possible know when showings start—and we use the interest we receive to gauge how we've priced the home,” he says.

The right agent brings more than a yard sign and an MLS login. Their existing relationships with other agents and buyers are often the engine of a pre-listing bidding war.

"In real estate there really is no substitute for experience," says Kimberly Schmidt, a San Diego-based real estate agent at Compass. "A seasoned agent who has sold hundreds of homes has by default worked with hundreds of agents. We know everyone, and we know who works in what areas."

Pricing and presentation are everything

No amount of premarketing will create a bidding war if the price is wrong—or if the home isn't ready to be seen. 

Schmidt walks sellers through what she calls a "punch list" of items to complete before professional photography and video take place. Ideally, all marketing materials are ready at least one to two weeks before the home goes active in the MLS, so the Coming Soon period can be used for maximum effect.

On pricing, Schmidt and Severns make the same argument: The path to multiple offers almost always runs through a price that signals value, not one that leaves room for negotiation.

"The No. 1 way to nudge [bidding war] behavior starts with analyzing the market correctly and pricing right at or 5% below market value," Severns says. "Many sellers want to 'leave room for negotiation' and they end up not creating a bidding war because the perceived value isn't there. Once someone perceives a deal they start thinking about the home—where their furniture is going to go, how their children will grow up there. Logic tells them it's a deal and emotion tells them it's a home."

Schmidt frames it similarly, in terms of negotiating position: "You can choose to negotiate from a position of strength or from weakness. The strong position happens when you have multiple offers, and that only usually happens when you get your pricing spot-on or launch a little below market. The weak position happens after you've been on the market for three months with no offers."

Connect with neighbors for a more personal channel

One of the more underrated pre-listing tactics doesn't involve the MLS at all. Severns recommends that sellers send personalized letters to their neighbors before the home goes active, sharing what they love about the neighborhood and asking if they know anyone who might love it just as much.

"This turns the neighbors into the sales force," he says, "because they want to pick their neighbors and they want to help their friend."

The approach is low-cost and surprisingly effective. Neighbors have skin in the game: They care who moves in, and they're often already plugged into social networks of people who might be looking. A warm referral from someone who lives on the block carries more weight than an email alert.

One caveat: Fair housing rules apply to any marketing communications—so keep the letters focused on the home and neighborhood, not the type of buyer you're hoping to attract. When in doubt, run the letter by your agent before sending.

Bringing it all together

The common thread in all of these strategies is timing and intentionality. A bidding war before you list doesn't happen by accident—it's the result of a well-prepared home, a well-priced listing, and an agent who's working their network before the sign goes in the ground.

"When I meet with sellers, I like to map out all of their market strategy options and walk them through the pros and cons of each scenario," Schmidt says. "Every decision is the seller's to make, not the agent's. The agent is in tune with the market, so we can speak to the pricing, the pacing, what we're seeing out in the field, and that can help the seller have a good view of the landscape."

The clearest sign that premarketing is working? Interest during the Coming Soon period. Severns uses that window as a real-time pricing gauge: "If during the Coming Soon period we receive a lot of interest, we have priced it correctly." By the time the listing goes active and showings begin, the goal is to have a waiting list of motivated buyers—the exact conditions a bidding war needs to ignite.