Help with handling "Do you have other offers on the property?"

[Kris Fox]

I am a realtor and I flip houses. I list my own houses, but this would apply for any realtor listing a client's house or their own.

I always get asked this very simple and basic question "Do you have any other offers on the house?"

If you answer, "Yes", I've had several realtors say, "OK, then we're not going to bother coming"

If you answer, "No", then there's a perceived edge in negotiations on their part. I would rather not answer the question at all. Does anybody out there say "I will not answer the question."

One thing I just thought about today is, what if you put in the remarks  or this is how you responded "If you ask me if a house has any offers, I will always answer "No"" or you say "I always answer "No" to that question".  I'm not sure if that's any better, but it's a question that is not good for a seller to answer ever. It can only ever hurt you by answering that question.

[Marc Murphy]

If you are a realtor you would need to honestly divulge if there is an offer or not. I agree with Sam Shueh , and his method of having someone else list the property. This will help avoid many gray areas

If they ask if there are offers I usually say:
No but we have x amount of showings in the next 48 hours. (This will help drive urgency)

Yes, we are looking for highest and best by x time