Bidding Wars & Broken Hearts: Real Estate Lessons from “Best Offer Wins”

We’ve all heard this story: a hopeful buyer gets their heart set on a perfect listing, puts in an offer, and…dozens of unbeatable all-cash offers flood in. In Marisa Kashino’s debut novel “Best Offer Wins,” a similar story of home buying woe ensues: Margo Miyake, an exhausted D.C. home buyer, has lost eleven bidding wars and goes to desperate lengths to secure the home of her dreams. Despite its hyperbolic nature, the book explores important themes about the modern housing crisis. In this day and age, how can a buyer remain resilient amidst heartless bidding wars?

The Heartbreak of House Hunting

“At first, my plan seemed to be working. Less than a month after we moved into the apartment, a house that checked all the boxes hit the market. It was a fully remodeled 1940s Colonial (my favorite style), in Grovemont (my favorite neighborhood), well under our budget. I thought maybe we wouldn’t even have to pay for a second month on the storage unit.

Then it got twenty-two offers.”

(Kashino, pg. 2)

A married couple in their late 30s, Margo and Ian’s struggle to land their forever home is reflective of many real-life families. However, unlike typical home buyers, Margo follows a lawless path of lies and coercion to get what she wants. Marisa Kashino wrote the book as a way to shine a light on the frustrations of the current housing market, all whilst packaged within a griping thriller.

House Hunting Tips

1. Treat the house hunting process like dating: You can’t allow yourself to fall in love with a house until the keys are in your hands.
2. Lean on experts: You’re not all alone in your search! Like trusty knights and advisors riding into battle, your lender and realtor will be by your side throughout any bidding wars
3. Tighten and revisit your home buying criteria: It’s helpful to reevaluate your non-negotiables vs nice-to-haves throughout the process (i.e. is having a kitchen island truly a deal-breaker?)

There’s one main lesson here about house hunting heartbreak: unlike Margo, you have to keep your emotions at arms’ length, regardless of how many open houses lull you into excitement. You can be optimistic while protecting yourself from falling into the lion’s den of home buying despair.

What “Best Offer Wins” Teaches Buyers What NOT To Do

“’How’s the ol’ house hunt coming along?’

‘Oh no, that bad?’

‘It’s fine…No inventory, lots of competition. You know how it is.’”

(Kashino, pg. 20)

Kashino’s parody of the housing market emphasizes many extreme examples of what a home buyer shouldn’t do. It should be obvious that a buyer shouldn’t stalk or blackmail sellers into relinquishing their home. The main character Margo goes to outrageous lengths to secure this picture perfect dream home. After receiving a tip from her realtor, she just so “happens” to attend the same hot yoga class as one of the sellers and befriends him and his daughter in order to find out when the house is going on the market. It shouldn’t even need to be said — don’t stalk sellers, agents, or other buyers!

Instead of taking drastic measures like Margo, the most sensible homeownership advice points to these three principles: patience, preapproval, and persistence.

• Patience: Settle in for the long haul (especially when buying in the spring/summer)
• Preapproval: Ensure you’re preapproved before you start house hunting as this will provide multiple benefits: 1) sellers will respect you as a serious buyer; 2) discovering the ballpark price range you can afford
• Persistence: Don’t expect to win your first few offers; by strategizing with your home buying team (your agent and lender), you can prepare yourself mentally and eventually land on the right home — and if you luck out and win on a bid early, all the better!

Fixer-Uppers & Renovation Realizations

“This was always part of the plan, after all, when we decided to sell our starter home. We had to get the money out of it if we were ever going to afford the dream house in the burbs, so it was unavoidable that we’d have to spend a little while renting.”

(Kashino, pg. 2)

In one of the more puzzling homeowning moments in “Best Offer Wins,” Margo talks about how she and her husband Ian sold their starter home and went back to renting. This seems to go against the grain of typical homeowning advice. Margo, instead of wanting to make the best from their first home, ditched it because the basement leaked and she hated the “bad DIY kitchen reno.” Once you become a homeowner, you can use your first home to launch you into a larger home down the line. Or, if your first home is a fixer-upper like Margo and Ian originally had, you can potentially turn it into your forever home with some perseverance, motivation, and love.

Renovation Options

We wanted to a list a few renovation options so that you don’t feel boxed in like Margo and Ian, that there’s only one way to get to your dream home. In fact, there’s many ways!

• Fannie Mae HomeStyle® Renovation Loan: Bundle the purchase price and renovation costs into one single mortgage
• Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation: Another option to fund home resilience projects
• FHA 203(k): Flexible renovation financing for FHA buyers
• VA Renovation: A newer option for Veterans looking to remodel their home

If the couple had taken advantage of either a renovation loan or a lending program that helps take the stress off of buying and selling at the same time (ask if you qualify for our Settle-In Program!), they may have avoided this whole renting debacle all together.

Conclusions: Will Your Best Offer Win?

We get it, buyers. Losing out on housing bids can drive anyone up a wall, but please, we implore you, don’t resort to extreme measures and show up on America’s Most Wanted! Margo Miyake’s story is a satire and a reality check, NOT a how-to guide. It’s like this with any important life goals: the right thing will come along eventually. And great things come to those who wait.

While biding your time, make sure to assemble your lending team ahead of the bidding wars and get that preapproval squared away. As long as you avoid falling into a thriller novel, you’ll be signing the closing documents before you know it.

Source: Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino, New York Times