It happens fast. You are sitting with an active listing, you have one offer on the table, and your phone rings. It is a buyer's agent. They are coming in with an offer. They need a few hours. Can you extend the deadline?
Right there - in that thirty-second phone call - the whole board just changed. And what you do in the next two to four hours will determine whether your seller walks away feeling like they won or wonders why they did not get more.
Most listing agents do one of two things in this window. They either panic and start making promises they should not make, or they go completely passive and just... wait. Neither one is leadership. Neither one is what your seller hired you for.
Let me show you how to actually work this window.
The First Thing You Do Is Not Call Your Seller
I know that sounds backwards. But hear me out. The moment you call your seller and say 'another offer is coming,' you have just handed them anxiety they cannot do anything with yet. They are going to ask you questions you cannot answer. They are going to start speculating. And the next two hours are going to feel like two days for both of you.
Before you call your seller, you need information. Call that buyer's agent back. Not to negotiate - you are not negotiating anything yet - but to get a read on the situation. What is the timeline on their buyer's financing? Are they local or relocating? Have they seen the property once or three times? You are not fishing for their number. You are building a picture so that when you do call your seller, you can walk in with context instead of just noise.
A good listing agent does not just relay information. They filter it, frame it, and present it with a point of view. That is the job.
How To Talk To Your Seller in That Window
Now you call your seller. And here is the exact energy you bring into that conversation: calm, confident, and specific. Not excited - excited makes sellers greedy in ways that can blow up a deal. Not nervous - nervous makes sellers doubt the offer they already have.
You say something like this: 'We have a second offer coming in. I want to walk you through how I think we should handle the next few hours so we get the best outcome for you.'
Notice what that sentence does. It positions you as the one with the plan. It does not leave your seller in a vacuum wondering what happens next. And it frames the conversation around outcome - not drama.
Then you have a real conversation about what your seller actually wants. Because here is something a lot of agents skip: not every seller wants to play the multiple-offer game. Some sellers want certainty. Some sellers have a timeline that matters more than squeezing out another five thousand dollars. Some sellers genuinely like the buyers who wrote the first offer and do not want to jerk them around.
Your job is not to manufacture a bidding war. Your job is to find out what winning looks like for your specific seller - and then run the play that gets them there.
The Decision That Most Listing Agents Make Wrong
Here is where I see agents really blow it. The second offer comes in, and the listing agent - trying to be fair, trying to look professional - immediately calls both agents and says: 'We have multiple offers. Please submit your highest and best by six o'clock.'
Sometimes that is exactly the right move. But a lot of the time, it is a lazy default that actually leaves money and certainty on the table.
What if the first offer is already strong and the buyers are locked in, pre-approved, flexible on closing, and your seller loves the terms? What if the second offer comes in and it is weaker - shorter pre-approval window, out-of-state lender, contingency that makes your seller nervous? Do you really want to blow up a clean deal chasing a number that might not materialize?
The highest-and-best call is a tool, not a reflex. Use it when the situation calls for it. Do not reach for it just because it feels like the textbook move.
Sometimes the right call is to contact the first buyer's agent, let them know there is competing interest, and give them a short window to sharpen their offer on their own terms. Sometimes the right call is to let both offers come in and present them side by side without a highest-and-best round at all - because your seller has enough information to decide. Sometimes the right call is to accept the first offer before the second one even arrives, because the certainty is worth more than the gamble.
None of those moves are wrong. What is wrong is not making a deliberate choice at all.
What You Owe Both Agents in This Situation
I want to talk about this because it matters for your reputation and your market relationships - and because agents sometimes get so focused on their seller that they treat the other agents in the transaction like obstacles instead of professionals.
You do not owe any buyer's agent a guaranteed shot. You do not owe anyone equal time or equal information. But you do owe people clarity and honesty. If you tell an agent you will wait for their offer, wait for it. If you set a deadline, hold the deadline. If you accept the first offer before the second one arrives, call that second agent immediately - do not let them work through the night preparing something for a deal that is already done.
Your reputation in this market is built one transaction at a time. The agent on the other side of today's deal is the agent you are going to need a favor from six months from now. Treat them with the same professionalism you want when the roles are reversed.
That does not mean you compromise your seller's interests. It means you conduct yourself in a way that makes other agents want to work with you - because in this business, cooperative relationships close deals.
The hours between offers are not dead time. They are some of the most important hours in a transaction. Work them. Lead in them. And when your seller gets to the table and signs, they will know exactly why they hired you.