We Almost Lost Trust in a Deal Last Week — Here's What Happened With a "Competing Offer"
Last week I was representing buyers on a Calgary purchase, and near the deadline for our offer to expire, we were informed at the last minute that another offer had come in on the property. What happened in the next hour is the kind of moment every Calgary buyer should think through before they are in one — because it is the moment when the difference between a well-prepared buyer and an unprepared buyer shows up in real dollars.
I want to walk through what happened, what CREB Rule 11.05 actually says, and what I want every buyer reading this to take from it. This is not a story about anyone doing anything wrong. It is a story about knowing your rights and staying calm under pressure — and it is the kind of story I would rather tell you now than have you learn it the way most buyers learn it, which is inside the moment itself.
The moment the pressure showed up
Multi-offer situations are common enough in the Calgary market that most experienced buyers have encountered at least one. The pattern is familiar: an offer gets written, a deadline is set, and somewhere before the deadline lands the buyer's agent gets a phone call from the listing agent letting them know a competing offer has come in. What happens in the next hour or two decides whether the buyer walks away with the property at a price that reflects the actual market, or whether they walk away having paid more than they needed to because they responded to pressure instead of information.
In our case, the notification came near the end of the window. The listing agent informed us there was another offer. On my clients' behalf, I asked a specific and standard question: who is the other buyer's agent, and which brokerage do they work for? That question exists for a reason, and there is a CREB rule that specifically addresses it.
What CREB Rule 11.05 actually says
CREB Rule 11.05 governs disclosure in multiple-offer situations. In plain language, it says that on request, the seller's representative must provide the names of competing buyers' agents and their brokerages — unless the seller has specifically instructed the representative in writing to withhold that information.
Two things are worth understanding here:
Buyers have a rule-based right to ask. This is not a favour. It is not "professional courtesy." It is a specific rule that governs multi-offer disclosure in Calgary.
Sellers have a rule-based right to decline. If the seller has instructed their representative in writing to withhold the information, the representative is not required to share it. Declining is technically within the rules.
Both of those things are true at the same time. The rule creates a right to ask and simultaneously permits the seller to decline. What matters is what the buyer does with the answer they get.
What happened when we asked
We asked for the competing agent and brokerage information, and the answer came back that the seller had chosen not to disclose. That answer was within the rules. It was not, by itself, wrongdoing. Nothing about the listing agent's response required us to feel anything about them one way or another.
But it did change something material about how we made our next decision.
When you can verify who is on the other side of a negotiating table — even at the basic level of who represents the other buyer and what brokerage they work for — you have a baseline of information that lets you assess the pressure you are being asked to respond to. When that verification is not available, the pressure you are being asked to respond to is a black box. It might be a real competing offer, structured similarly to yours, from a serious buyer represented by a serious agent. Or it might be something else. From your side of the table, you cannot know.
This is exactly the moment buyers most often overpay. Not because the competing offer was necessarily fake — most competing offers are real. But because the response most buyers have to unverified pressure is to escalate: raise the offer, shorten the conditions, drop the questions. That escalation, made under pressure without information, is what turns a fair-value purchase into an overpaid one.
Why "within the rules" and "a red flag" are both true
This is the part most buyers do not fully understand until they have been through a situation like this. The same rule that gives you the right to ask for competing agent information also permits the seller to decline that request. A decline is not, by itself, evidence that anything is wrong. It is a permitted response.
But — and this is important — a decline is also a data point. And you, as the buyer, are entitled to factor that data point into your response. If a seller declines to disclose competing agent information, you do not have to treat the competing offer as automatically credible. You do not have to escalate your offer as though the competing offer's terms were public and verified. You do not have to accept the framing that you are competing against a specific, real, apples-to-apples other buyer.
What you have to do is respond in the way that best protects your interests given the information you actually have. Which usually means: staying calm, not escalating past what the property is worth to you, and being willing to walk away if the terms move past your line.
What staying calm actually looks like in practice
The single most valuable muscle a buyer can bring into a multi-offer situation is the ability to stay in their own decision-making frame instead of getting pulled into the pressure of the moment. That is easy to say and much harder to do when the deadline is 45 minutes away and the phone is ringing.
Here is what it looks like in practice:
Ask the questions you have a right to ask. On request, seller's representatives must provide competing agent and brokerage information under CREB Rule 11.05 unless instructed otherwise in writing. Ask.
Understand what response you got — including a decline — as information you factor in, not information that decides for you.
Do not escalate reflexively. The pressure of the moment is designed to trigger escalation. Recognise the trigger.
Return to the question you asked before the competing-offer notification came in: what is this property actually worth to us, and what is our top number? That number does not change because another party may or may not be at the table.
Be willing to walk. The buyers who consistently do well in multi-offer situations are the ones who are genuinely willing to lose the property rather than pay past their number. That posture is what keeps their number honest.
None of this is about being combative or difficult. It is about being clear-eyed. The property is worth what it is worth to you. The presence of another party at the table is a fact worth knowing about. The specific structure and credibility of that party's offer is another fact worth knowing about, when you can. When some of those facts are not available, you respond to the ones you have.
What I do differently as a buyer's agent
For every one of my buyers, part of the pre-offer conversation includes a specific walk-through of what will happen if a competing offer notification lands in our lap. We discuss:
The specific CREB rules that govern multi-offer disclosure
The questions we will ask on the buyer's behalf
How we will interpret different possible responses — including a decline
Where the buyer's top number is set, and how we protect that number under pressure
What the walk-away line looks like and how we will make that call together
The reason we have this conversation before we write the offer — not in the middle of a multi-offer situation — is that the middle of a multi-offer situation is exactly the wrong time to first think through it. In the moment, the buyer is dealing with the emotional weight of potentially losing a property they have already emotionally purchased. Clear thinking is much harder in that moment than 48 hours earlier over coffee.
Frequently asked questions
What is CREB Rule 11.05 in plain language?
It is the CREB rule that says on request in a multi-offer situation, the seller's representative must provide the names of competing buyers' agents and their brokerages — unless the seller has specifically instructed them in writing to withhold that information.
If the seller declines disclosure, does that mean the other offer isn't real?
No. It means you cannot independently verify the competing offer through the disclosure mechanism the rule provides. Most competing offers in Calgary multi-offer situations are real. But you do not have to treat "there's another offer" as automatically credible when you cannot verify who represents the other buyer.
Am I obligated to raise my offer just because I've been told there's another offer?
No. You are never obligated to escalate your offer in a multi-offer situation. You can raise, hold, or walk away. Your decision should be based on what the property is worth to you and what information you actually have — not on the pressure of the moment.
What should my buyer's agent be doing when a competing offer notification comes in?
At minimum, they should be asking for competing agent and brokerage information per CREB Rule 11.05, walking you through what the response means, reminding you of your predetermined top number, and giving you the calm space to make your decision rather than pushing you to escalate.
The bottom line
Calgary buyers do not have to blindly trust the words "there's another offer." CREB Rule 11.05 gives you the right to ask for competing agent and brokerage information on request. A seller's decision to decline that request is within the rules — and equally within your right to factor into how you respond.
Under pressure, most buyers escalate. Staying calm, knowing your rights, and asking the right questions is what protects you from overpaying in a moment that feels like it is happening to you rather than with you. That is the muscle a good buyer's agent builds for you before you ever need it.
If you want the framework I walk every one of my buyers through for exactly these moments — before you are in one — comment BUYER on the video and I will send you my 2026 Calgary Buyer Strategy Guide.
