Off-market listings are suddenly on everyone’s lips. Only last week a caller told us, “I don’t really need help bidding or negotiating - I just want access to the off-markets.” He isn’t alone. A solid share of new enquiries now open with the same request, lured by the promise of hidden deals that never reach the portals.

It’s easy to see why. Some buyer advocates even lead with the percentage of off-market purchases they’ve secured, as though that number alone guarantees a win. To an inexperienced buyer, the idea of a secret inventory sounds irresistible. Yet off-market does not automatically equal bargain or quality. These properties can offer genuine upside - but they can also carry more risk than their public counterparts. The difference lies in motivation.

Two Very Different Motivations

Over years of fieldwork we’ve learned to slot off-market sellers into two broad camps.

1. Situational sellers need a discreet, fast, or flexible sale for practical reasons. They may have already bought their next home and must align settlements; they might be marketing a tenanted property that photographs poorly; they may need unusual terms, crave privacy, or simply dislike hordes of strangers filing through their living room. These vendors are usually realistic about price, and their homes form the backbone of the good-value off-market pool.
2. Optimistic sellers are chasing a number no recent comparable supports. They’ll happily take an eye-watering premium - otherwise they’re content to stay put. We avoid these listings; it’s rarely worth negotiating against sheer aspiration.

The Mirage Listing

There’s a third category we treat with equal caution: the mirage. Agents sometimes “float” a property quietly, quote a broad range, and gauge whether any buyer will pay a premium. If big offers fail to materialise, the listing returns to plan A - an auction or full campaign. A single question exposes the mirage: “If we don’t agree terms now, will this property go public?” In a thin-stock market, many agencies prefer to run campaigns and get boards up on the street.

Timing Matters

True situational off-markets ebb and flow with the calendar. They’re plentiful just after the spring rush—think November, December, January - and again in May and June, when vendors who bought late last year need settlement certainty. In contrast, August and early September produce a buyer drought: publicly advertised stock is scarce, demand is high, and every off-market email feels like water in the desert. That’s precisely when caution counts most.

Volume Is Not the Same as Quality

Between quiet texts, advocate blasts, and tip-offs, our team fields well over a hundred off-market opportunities each year. Strip out homes on main roads, floor plans too tight for comfort, awkward layouts, and inflated price tags, and only a small fraction survive the first pass. The inspection list is lean by design; discipline protects clients from paying a private-sale premium for a sub-par asset.

Takeaway

Off-market properties can be a genuine advantage—when seller motivation is real and pricing stays tethered to comparable sales. Spotting that alignment takes experience, rigorous filtering, and an eye for the “why” behind the listing. Anything less turns the off-market promise into a very public disappointment.

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Want to know if a genuine situational off-market fits your brief? Book a quick, no-obligation discovery call and find out.

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