In recent years, when we heard an offer had already been made on a home we were about to tour, we would assume it was full price (or higher), and if it didn't already have an escalation clause, that such a clause would be added if or when a second offer existed.

That assumption made sense in a fast-paced market where homes sold quickly and competition was intense.

But now, things are or might be changing.

The current market is at least somewhat more balanced... in some price ranges. 

Some homes still move quickly, but others sit longer. As a result, early offers aren't always aggressive. In fact, some may come in below list price -- something we wouldn't have imagined just a year or two ago.

This change in the local market matters when you are considering an offer on a new listing.

If you're making an offer after someone else already has made one, we probably will no longer assume that the offer is necessarily a full price offer. It might be, but it also might be an offer for less than the list price, or it might have other offer terms the seller isn't excited about.

This uncertainty should affect how we approach your offer. Instead of automatically offering at or above the list price, or adding aggressive terms, we'll want to take a moment to think about what the property is worth to you, how long it has been on the market, the sales price of similar homes, etc.

In short, the offer the sellers already received might not be as strong as we would have recently assumed it was.

But, yes, some houses will definitely still have early strong offers -- so don't assume that every offer with which you are competing is a less than list price offer either.  

And, yes, some of this is related to how realistic or optimistic a seller's list price was from the start.