Why would you sell your home "off the market"?  We could spend pages talking about it-  if you have questions please feel free to call me- but here are the more salient points:

"Off the Market" means the home is not exposed to the general market place, the most active market place being the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS.  The MLS is used by over 15,000 real estate professionals every day.  The MLS's public website receives   362,992 visits and 214,548  page views per month - these are potential buyers looking for a home.  These numbers do not even include the other syndicated sites like Trulia, Realtor.com, etc., or agents in cooperating areas.  These numbers are impressive, yes?

The concept is simple.  The more people who see your home, the better the chance you have of selling it at the highest possible sales price.  A seller is most surely leaving money on the table by limiting the exposure of a home to just one person, or one office, or a select group of agents, or a website designed for "top agent members only".  If a seller does not have the maximum exposure in the first place, they cannot maximize their opportunity for multiple offers.

And about those multiple offers:  Statistically speaking, the home that receives multiple offers is one that will sell for more money than another home that receives only one offer.  And in this current marketplace (yes, even now) it could be a lot more money!  Usually, more offers generate a higher sales price as competing buyers bid the price up in an attempt to be the successful bidder.

The only way to know how many buyers you will have bidding on your home is to go on the market and stay there long enough for buyers and agents to have a chance to see the property.  With only one buyer there is no competition, period.  No one is going to go all out to negotiate against themselves to purchase a home when they are not feeling pressured to do so.

Keep this in mind when being approached by someone knocking on your door, or when receiving a letter from a buyer or agent who wants to "make it easy on you".  It is bound to be a much better deal for them, and without your own representation, you may come to regret not taking the time to protect your own interests.  You may think that the offered price is a really good one - but how do you know?  You might ask yourself:  How good could it get?

I have spent many years representing home sellers and negotiating the highest sales price for them.  A home is usually a person's largest asset and it should be treated as such.  The open market is a powerful tool that can be used to obtain the best results.