How Bidding Wars Work in York Region: A Buyer and Seller Guide

Q: Who can help me handle a bidding war in York Region?

Kirby Chan and the Kirby Chan and Co. Real Estate Team represent buyers and sellers through multiple offer situations across Richmond Hill, Markham and York Region. Reach Kirby at (416) 305-8008.

A multiple offer situation is the most expensive twenty minutes in real estate. Buyers make six-figure decisions on incomplete information under a deadline someone else set. Sellers assume more offers automatically means more money, which is not always true. This guide covers how competing offers actually work in Ontario, what the listing agent is and is not allowed to tell you, which levers move the outcome besides price and where buyers get hurt.

How bidding wars and multiple offers work in York Region real estate

Written by a Richmond Hill and Markham Real Estate Expert

At Kirby Chan & Co. Real Estate Team, we run offer nights from the listing side and we defend buyers on the other side of them. Both perspectives are in this guide, because you cannot compete well in a process you only half understand.

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Quick takeaway: In a standard Ontario multiple offer situation, you are told how many competing offers exist but not what they contain. Price wins most of the time, but not all of the time: deposit size, a clean offer with no conditions and a closing date that matches the seller's needs regularly beat a slightly higher bid. The single biggest risk for buyers is the appraisal gap, where you win at a price the lender will not fully finance and have to cover the difference in cash. Set your maximum before the night starts and write it down. The room is designed to move you past it.

How a Multiple Offer Situation Works
What You Are and Are Not Told
The Levers Besides Price
The Appraisal Gap
Bully Offers and Pre-Emptive Bids
For Sellers: When the Strategy Backfires
Setting Your Number and Holding It
Frequently Asked Questions

How a Multiple Offer Situation Works

The common version in York Region works like this. The seller lists at a price at or below what the home is realistically worth, declines to review offers for roughly five to seven days, and sets an offer date. Showings and open houses run through that window. On offer night, every interested buyer submits at the same time and the seller reviews them together.

The seller then has three options on any offer: accept it, reject it, or sign it back with changes. Where several offers are close, the listing agent commonly goes back to the leading buyers and invites improved offers. There is no legal obligation to run that second round, no obligation to give everyone the same opportunity and no obligation to accept the highest number. A seller can accept a lower offer with better terms, or accept none at all.

That asymmetry is the thing buyers underestimate. You are bidding into a process the seller controls, on information the seller controls, against competitors you cannot see. Understanding the rules does not remove the disadvantage, but it narrows it considerably.

What You Are and Are Not Told

The Number of Offers, Yes

Every buyer in the running is entitled to know how many competing offers the seller has received. If you are told there are four offers, there are four registered offers. Misrepresenting that count is a serious matter for the brokerage involved, which is why the number is generally reliable.

The Contents, Traditionally No

In the traditional process the substance of competing offers stays confidential. You do not learn the leading price, the deposit or the conditions. This is why buyers overshoot: with no anchor, people bid against their imagination of the competition rather than against the competition itself.

Ask About This The Open Offer Process

Ontario's rules changed here and most consumers still do not know it. Under the current legislation a seller may choose to allow the details of competing offers to be disclosed to other buyers, sometimes called an open offer process. It is the seller's decision, personal information about the buyers is still protected, and it is not the default.

As a buyer, ask the listing brokerage whether the seller has elected this. It costs nothing to ask and the answer changes how you bid. As a seller, it is worth a conversation. Transparency can pull hesitant buyers into the process, though it can equally cause a leading buyer to improve by less than they would have in the dark. There is no universally right answer, only the right answer for a specific property and buyer pool.

The Levers Besides Price

Lever	How Much It Moves the Seller
A firm offer with no conditions	Very high. Certainty is what the seller is buying, and a conditional offer at the same price usually loses
A large deposit	High. It signals both seriousness and that your financing is real
The closing date the seller wants	High when the seller is buying elsewhere or coordinating a move
Few or no requested inclusions	Moderate. Asking for the patio set and the TV mount reads as friction
A short irrevocable period	Low to moderate, and it can work against you if the seller needs time
A personal letter to the seller	Low, and it carries fair housing sensitivities. Many brokerages discourage it
Price	Highest, but not the only factor and not always decisive

The practical point for buyers: before you raise your price again, find out what the seller actually needs. A seller who has already bought a home closing in ninety days values a matching closing date more than another ten thousand dollars. That information is usually available for the asking, and almost nobody asks.

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The Appraisal Gap

The Risk Nobody Explains Before the Offer

Your lender does not finance your purchase price. It finances a percentage of the value its appraiser assigns, and where those two numbers differ the lender generally works from the lower one. Win a bidding war at $1,480,000 on a home that appraises at $1,400,000 and the shortfall becomes your problem, in cash, before closing.

On a firm offer there is no financing condition to fall back on. You are committed. Buyers who cannot cover the gap face borrowing at high cost, going back to family, or failing to close and facing consequences far worse than losing a deposit. This is the specific mechanism by which bidding wars ruin people, and it is almost never discussed in the room where the decision is being made.

Before you go firm, ask your mortgage broker directly how much cash you could produce if the appraisal came in eighty thousand dollars light. If the answer is none, your maximum bid is lower than you think it is, regardless of what you are approved for.

Bully Offers and Pre-Emptive Bids

A bully offer, more politely a pre-emptive offer, is an offer submitted before the seller's stated offer date, usually well above asking and with a short irrevocable period designed to force a decision before other buyers can organize. A seller is generally free to consider one, and where a listing has advertised an offer date the brokerage is expected to notify buyers who have registered interest so they have a chance to respond.

As a buyer, a bully offer works when it is genuinely strong enough that the seller prefers certainty now over the possibility of more later. It has to be firm, well above asking and easy to say yes to. A marginal bully offer usually just resets the seller's expectations upward and you end up competing on offer night anyway, against a higher bar you created.

As a seller, the question is whether the offer in front of you beats the realistic outcome of the process you planned. Sometimes it clearly does and you take it. Sometimes it is a sign that demand is stronger than expected, which is an argument for holding. That judgment depends on how many showings the property has had, how many buyers have registered and what comparable homes have been doing in the last three weeks.

For Sellers: When the Strategy Backfires

Underpricing to create a bidding war is a strategy, not a law of nature. It works in specific conditions and fails badly outside them.

You Only Get One Offer

The failure mode. You listed at $1,299,000 on a home worth $1,450,000 and one buyer shows up at the list price. Now you either accept well under value or reject it, and rejecting means relisting at a higher price with a days-on-market counter already running and every agent in the area aware the strategy did not work. The underpricing that was meant to create competition instead anchored the market low.

When It Does Work

It needs genuine scarcity in your specific segment, a property that shows well, strong showing traffic in the first week and a price point with a deep buyer pool. In practice that has meant well-presented homes in established Richmond Hill and Markham neighbourhoods at price points where family demand is deepest. Before committing to an offer date, we count the active competing listings and track showing volume in the first four days. If the traffic is not there by day four, we adjust rather than walk into offer night hoping.

The Alternative Nobody Discusses

Pricing at fair market value and accepting offers anytime is a legitimate strategy that gets dismissed too quickly. It attracts serious buyers, avoids the reputational damage of a failed offer night and often produces a comparable net result with far less risk. In balanced or slower conditions it is frequently the better call. Any agent who recommends the same pricing approach for every listing regardless of market conditions is following a habit rather than a strategy.

Setting Your Number and Holding It

Everything about offer night is engineered to move you. The deadline, the competing offers you cannot see, the sunk cost of ten weekends of house hunting, the fear that this is the last decent home you will see. None of it changes what the property is worth or what you can afford.

Do three things before the day. Write down your maximum and the reasoning behind it, at a time when nobody is asking you for a decision. Confirm with your mortgage broker how much cash you could produce if the appraisal disappoints. And decide in advance what you will do if you lose, because a buyer who has no plan for losing will pay anything to avoid it.

Losing a bidding war costs you nothing but time. Winning one at fifteen percent over value costs you for a decade. I have told buyers to stop bidding on homes they wanted, and I have had sellers push back when I said the offer in front of them was better than what another round would produce. That is the job.

Recognition

Kirby Chan Awards and Achievements

🏆 #1 Individual Producer in Ontario for eXp Realty 2023

🏆 Top 3 Best Rated Real Estate Agent in Richmond Hill

🏆 Toronto Star Platinum Award for Best Real Estate Agent

🏆 Top Real Estate Agent Award in Markham

🏆 2X ICON Agent Award with eXp Realty

🏆 2025 Community Votes Platinum Award, Thornhill

🏆 2024 Community Votes Platinum Award, Thornhill

🏆 2025 Gold Award for Real Estate Brokers in Markham

🏆 2024 Community Votes Bronze Award, Richmond Hill

🏆 2023 Community Votes Platinum Award, Thornhill

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I find out what the other offers are?

You are told how many competing offers there are. The contents are confidential unless the seller has chosen an open offer process, which Ontario now permits. Ask the listing brokerage whether the seller has elected it.

Does the highest offer always win?

No. A seller can accept a lower offer with better terms, or none at all. A firm offer with a large deposit and the closing date the seller needs regularly beats a higher offer carrying conditions.

What is an appraisal gap?

It is the shortfall when a lender's appraised value comes in below your purchase price. The lender finances based on the lower figure and you cover the difference in cash. On a firm offer there is no financing condition to protect you.

What is a bully offer?

A pre-emptive offer submitted before the seller's stated offer date, usually above asking with a short irrevocable period. A seller may consider one, and buyers who registered interest are generally notified so they can respond.

Should I include a financing or inspection condition?

Conditions weaken your position in a competitive situation, but going firm transfers real risk to you. If you cannot absorb an appraisal shortfall or an unexpected repair, a lower firm bid or a conditional offer may be the sounder choice.

Should I list below market to start a bidding war?

Only where your segment has genuine scarcity, strong early showing traffic and a deep buyer pool. If one buyer shows up at your list price, you have anchored the market below your home's value. Pricing at fair value is often the safer strategy.

Who can help me handle a bidding war in York Region?

Kirby Chan and the Kirby Chan & Co. Real Estate Team represent buyers and sellers through multiple offer situations across Richmond Hill, Markham and York Region. We set the number before the night starts and we tell you when to walk. Reach me at (416) 305-8008.

Contact Kirby Chan

Buying or Selling in a Competitive Market?

On the buy side, I will tell you what the home is worth, what the risk is if you go firm and where to stop. On the sell side, I will tell you honestly whether an offer date is the right strategy for your property or whether it is a habit that will cost you. Either way you get the analysis before the pressure starts, not during it.

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Kirby Chan | Kirby Chan & Co. Real Estate Team
kirby@kirbychanandco.com
https://kirbychanandco.com

Dedicated Real Estate Hotline

416-305-8008

Note: This guide describes general practice in Ontario multiple offer situations as of mid-2026 and is provided for information only. It is not legal advice. Disclosure rules, offer process requirements and brokerage obligations are governed by Ontario legislation and regulation and are subject to change. Price examples are illustrations. Market conditions vary by neighbourhood, property type and price band. For advice specific to your transaction, consult a licensed real estate professional, and consult a real estate lawyer before signing any offer.