The Real-Life ‘No Good Deed’: Agents Reveal the Craziest Tactics Homebuyers Have Used To Win Their Dream House

by Lisa Johnson Mandell

Actress Lisa Kudrow‘s new Netflix hit “No Good Deed” has quickly become one of the streaming site’s most talked-about shows, captivating audiences with its all-star cast, witty one-liners—and hilarious portrayal of the home buying process.

The eight-episode series, which premiered Dec. 12, centers on the sale of a 1920s Spanish-style villa in Los Angeles. This place has been put on the market by empty nesters Lydia and Paul, played by Kudrow and fellow Emmy Award winner Ray Romano.

Soon, the duo find themselves at the center of a bitter real estate battle that sees three different couples fighting to buy the property, employing all manner of crazy tactics in an attempt to win the ultimate prize: their dream home.

Little do these couples know that the abode is actually home to some very dark secrets, with the online description revealing: “‘No Good Deed’ is a dark comedy series that, over eight half-hour episodes, follows three very different families as they race to buy the same 1920s Spanish-style villa that they think will solve all their problems.

“But as the sellers have already discovered, sometimes the home of your dreams can be a total nightmare… As Lydia and Paul struggle to hide the dark and dangerous secrets that linger inside their longtime home, they begin to realize that the only way they’ll escape the past is to finally face it.”

So far, so dramatic.

But while the show is fictional and offers a very dramatized version of the home selling and buying process, it isn’t entirely inaccurate as far as its depiction of the intense competition that can develop between interested parties.

That fierce fight to secure a property has become even more fraught of late, thanks in large part to a lack of inventory.

Much of the blame can be placed on high interest rates. There are many homeowners who might want to sell but know they’d never be able to duplicate their low interest rates— some under 4%—on the purchase of a new home. So they opt to stay put in their current properties and fix them up, rather than buy something else.

Capital gains taxes are also a problem. Homes have appreciated so much in the last several years that sellers who make a huge profit find themselves socked with a capital gains tax bill that quickly eats away at their profits.

Whatever the reason, would-be buyers today are still finding heated competition for the home of their dreams and are realizing they need to come up with creative ways to win those frantic bidding wars.

That fierce fight to secure a property has become even more fraught of late, thanks in large part to a lack of inventory.
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The saying “cash is king” may be true—making the highest bid is always a strong play. But time, talent, food, valuable belongings, and even bragging rights can also have a strong influence.

According to several top real estate agents, some homebuyers will go to extraordinary lengths to secure their perfect property. One particularly wild example? A tech entrepreneur who offered his limited edition Tesla and a rare collection of vintage arcade games as part of the purchase price. Those unique and high-value perks won the day.

Then there was the buyer who offered the sellers his season tickets to the local NFL team as part of the deal. He scored the house!

But bidding-war winning offers are not always so lavish. Sometimes they’re sentimental—on occasion, a little too sentimental. Taking a big risk on an outlandish offer could kibosh the deal.

We’ve found a number of unconventional offers that show just how far some homebuyers will go to secure their dream property in a competitive market. While not all tactics are winners, they demonstrate the creativity and determination of people trying to make their homeownership dreams come true.

Music to sellers’ ears

The Agency’s Joshua Garner, who works in New York, had a client who fell in love with a particular unit, but the owners had already accepted an offer on it.

“We had to pull out ALL the stops to convince them to pivot to us,” says Garner. “First, we had to come up in price. Second, I had the buyer write a love letter explaining his life and how he would use the space.”

But it was the third tactic that clinched the deal.

“This particular buyer happens to be a wildly talented musician and member of the NY Philharmonic,” Garner reveals. “We offered to host the sellers at an upcoming concert. It worked, and we were able to gazump the existing buyers.”

Nathaniel Pitchon Getzels, a prominent Compass real estate agent in Los Angeles, represented a musical theatre star in the purchase of a home. They found his ideal living space and, during the tour, they noticed an abundance of musical theater paraphernalia, indicating they were fans of the genre.

The talented client showed up on their doorstep one day and serenaded them with an offer and a few of their favorite musical numbers. You could say he got the house for a song.

Tasteful offers

A couple of chefs in the Chicago area are reported to have offered the sellers of their ideal home a gourmet meal, prepared in their new home, once a month for a year. The sellers ate it up.

Then, there’s the case of a family in Phoenix that was desperate to secure a reasonably priced family home in a good neighborhood with excellent schools, so they paid close attention as they toured the home—in an effort to surmise what might influence the buyers.

They noticed that the sellers were Jewish, so on Friday afternoon after making a bid above list price and releasing all contingencies, they showed up on the sellers’ doorstep with fresh baked challah and homemade chicken soup.

It’s hard to say which factor won the day, but they figured chicken soup couldn’t hurt.

A dog-gone good offer

A middle-aged couple in Los Angeles decided it was time to sell their four-bedroom, three-bath home since their three children had grown up and moved out, and their beloved Labrador retriever was the only one left.

Their house was kitted out with pet accommodations like a dog door, a built-in feeding station, a dog bath, etc., and a savvy young couple picked up on this when they toured the house for the first time.

On the day that bids were due, the young couple arranged for a second tour, with the wife arriving first and the husband arriving shortly after—with a furry little surprise. He made a big deal of presenting his wife an adorable little Labrador puppy, saying their new bundle of joy would grow up there and love the house as much as they did.

They then made a very strong offer, which was accepted.

The sellers later heard from the neighbors that the young couple bragged about using a “stunt puppy.” The wife was actually allergic to dogs, and they borrowed the puppy from a friend to use as a prop.

But the sellers didn’t mind—they’d received the offer of their dreams, and the buyers got the home of their dreams. It seemed a fair trade.

Avoid a CAT-astrophy

Trying to make an appeal to animal lovers doesn’t always work, as was the case with clients of real estate agent Ben Lee, a Coldwell Banker Global Luxury property specialist affiliated with the Beverly Hills office of Coldwell Banker Realty.

“I was the listing agent for a property North of Montana Ave in Santa Monica,” Lee says. “As is customary, the open house was packed with hopeful buyers. During the open, a couple with a young daughter, maybe 7 or 8, came through. She gravitated to the family cat; and while her parents were touring the home, their daughter continued playing with the cat and seemed absolutely smitten.”

Those buyers stayed for over an hour, Lee recalls.

“At some point, they came to me and asked why the owners were selling. I explained that the resident had passed away and that my clients were her children,” Lee says. “I also told them that we did expect multiple offers on the house. The daughter interrupted our conversation and was focused on what would happen to the cat. I said I didn’t know but would find out for them.”

The next day he received an offer from the family, with a lovely letter and picture of the three of them.

“They presented as a nice, well-intentioned family who was excited about the house,” Lee says. But they added an “addendum.” They wanted to include the cat in the purchase.”

“I had never seen anything like that,” he admits. “I had no idea if they really wanted the cat or wanted to seem like the perfect buyers? Maybe they wanted to make the offer sweeter in that the sellers’ descendants didn’t have to place mom’s cat? Hard to know.”

Whatever the motivation, it didn’t work.

“The sellers were so offended, they rejected the offer and didn’t include them in the multiple counteroffer process!” Lee reveals.

Guess they didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag.

Suck up to the agents

Agents have a great deal of influence over which offers are accepted, and savvy buyers understand this.

“I once had a buyer agent who sent their offer to me taped to the top of a pizza box to get my attention. It was delicious!” says Josh Judge, a New Hampshire real estate agent.

There are also numerous accounts of sending treats to the seller’s agent’s entire real estate office in order to gain favor—everything from designer donuts and coffee to bagels and lox to fully catered lunches to an In-n-Out Burger food truck!

Flex your talents

“I had one client offer sellers free personal training for a year in the fitness studio he planned to set up in their home,” says Getzels. “That way, they could simultaneously get in shape and visit the house they said they were going to miss.

He also represented a buyer who was a talented artist, who went to the length of painting a “stunning” picture of the home he hoped to buy and presented it to the sellers, “so they could remember their beloved house and see how much it would be loved by the new owner.”

His artistic offer was accepted.

Ease a breakup

A Houston couple found their dream home and wanted to do everything they could to win the bidding war for it. As part of their research, they asked the agent how the sellers could bear to leave such a beautiful home. It’s a tactful way of asking, “What’s wrong with this house?”

The agent told them that the owners were going through a contentious divorce and really didn’t want to sell, but they couldn’t afford two separate residences unless they did. They were having a hard time finding separate residences suitable to both of them.

So the buyers went home to write their very generous offer, as well as the standard “love letter” to the home. The husband started it, elaborating on how their family would have so many beautiful experiences, enjoying the pool, gathering around the fireplace, sharing family meals in the dining room, etc.

The wife took one look at what he’d written and said, “Forget all that happy family fluff. Their family has just been ripped apart. The last thing they want to hear about is how warm and happy another family will be in a home they can no longer afford. Let’s offer them an extended escrow period, so they’ll have plenty of time to say goodbye to their beloved house and find other suitable dwellings.”

It worked like a charm.

The moral of this story seems to be that buyers should pay close attention to the sellers’ wants and needs and focus on those, rather than on their own. Figure out what’s most valuable to the sellers, and make an offer that meets the their needs instead of elaborating on how their property will meet yours.

And don’t forget the influence of your agent.