Offers + Negotiation
An offer is more than a price.
Once buyers start showing serious interest, we’ll look at the complete picture: what they’re offering, how they plan to purchase the home, what protections they’re asking for and how likely they are to make it all the way to closing.
The goal isn’t simply to get an offer. It’s to choose the offer, and the terms, that make the most sense for you.
Look beyond the price
The highest offer isn’t always the strongest offer.
Two buyers can offer the exact same amount and present very different levels of risk.
We’ll look at things like financing, down payment, contingencies, deposit, closing timeline and any special terms the buyer has included.
Then I’ll walk you through how those pieces fit together so you can compare your options clearly.
Understand the contingencies
Most offers give buyers certain opportunities to investigate the property and confirm that they’re comfortable moving forward.
Depending on the offer, those may include inspections, financing and appraisal contingencies.
The details matter.
A shorter contingency period may give you more certainty sooner, while a longer one may give the buyer more flexibility. We’ll look at each offer in the context of your priorities rather than treating every term the same.
Negotiation is about more than getting more
Sometimes the best move is pushing on price.
Other times, the more valuable improvement might be a shorter contingency period, a stronger deposit, a better closing timeline or fewer requests elsewhere in the contract.
Every negotiation is a little different.
My job is to help you understand where we have leverage, where the buyer may have flexibility and which terms are actually worth fighting for.
What happens if there are multiple offers?
Multiple offers create opportunity, but they also create more decisions.
We may choose to counter one buyer, counter several, ask buyers for their best terms or accept an offer that already gives us what we need.
There isn’t one automatic playbook.
We’ll look at the strength of each buyer, their terms and the overall situation before deciding how to respond.
The goal is to create the strongest possible outcome without unnecessarily putting a good offer at risk.
Choosing the right offer
Before accepting anything, we’ll take one final look at the entire offer together.
What will your estimated proceeds look like?
Does the timeline work for your move?
Are there terms that could create problems later?
How confident are we in the buyer’s financing and ability to perform?
You should understand exactly what you’re agreeing to before you sign.
Once we have an agreement
When you accept an offer, the home officially moves into escrow.
But the work isn’t finished.
The buyer may conduct inspections, their lender may order an appraisal, documents and disclosures continue moving back and forth, and we’ll keep track of deadlines and contingencies as we work toward closing.
That’s the final stretch.
