Take the Money and Run

Fandango

A60FF4C9-6A2D-42A6-9DF7-8123A07AD178I now have an answer to the age old question: is a bird in the hand really worth two in the bush?

You may remember that yesterday I wrote about how our realtor had scheduled to accept offers from prospective buyers for the house we’re selling in San Francisco at 9:00 this morning. But on Monday we received a “preemptive offer,” and it was a great offer — all cash, no contingencies, quick close date, and above asking price. My wife and I agonized over the offer. Should we take the money and run or should we wait until today, when formal offers were to be submitted, to see if an even better offer would materialize? We ultimately decided to wait.

When I woke up this morning I thought to myself, we had a bird in the hand; we must be crazy for holding out in the hope of getting a bigger, better bird from the bush. My wife thought we had made a huge mistake by not accepting that preemptive offer and that we would regret not taking it.

At around 10:30 this morning, after spending three hours on pins and needles and second guessing ourselves, our realtor emailed to us a spreadsheet detailing each of the eight formal offers she received, including a resubmission of that preemptive offer we received on Monday.

So, was the bird in the hand (as of Monday) worth more than the seven others that were in the bush? Well, in this particular case, no, it was not. Two of the offers we received this morning were even better offers. And one was all cash, no contingencies, a quick close (seven days from today), and five percent higher than the offer we received on Monday! Woo hoo!

In this instance, anyway, “good things come to those who wait” trumped “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”467EBAFD-8F74-450C-A067-95CAFA6FEA9E

30 thoughts on “Take the Money and Run”

  2. Marleen March 4, 2020 / 7:16 pm

    Congratulations! Whew! 🎉 !

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  3. Paula Light March 4, 2020 / 7:23 pm

    Yay! Congrats! 🍾

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  4. Marilyn Armstrong March 4, 2020 / 7:34 pm

    It’s important to get your platitudes in order, to know which platitudes are more effective than the other less effective ones. I’ve always liked birds in the hand better than birds in the bush because I really like birds. As long as it isn’t an angry parrot with a big beak.

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  9. Liz March 4, 2020 / 8:44 pm

    Brilliant. Glad it worked out in the end.

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  13. Grant Smith May 11, 2020 / 9:33 pm

    Congrats on the sale! Patience pays off no doubt.

    Liked by 1 person

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