How to Pick the Best Offer on Your Home

Flathead Valley Real Estate Podcast with Brett Kelly

Getting multiple offers on your home is a great thing, but deciding which one is best for you involves examining a few key aspects of each offer.
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If you’re selling your home in a great market, you’re in the right price range, and you get multiple counteroffers, what does that mean to you?

Number one, that’s awesome. Anytime you have competing buyers for your property, it puts you in the driver’s seat in terms of getting your house sold. It allows you to get a much better offer and determine some of the contingencies. But what should you specifically look out for to determine the best of these offers?

The first thing you want to look at is the contingencies. How far out are their home inspection contingencies? I would say that 90% of the properties bought in the Flathead Valley have a home inspection contingency. If a buyer schedules their inspection contingency for, say, five weeks instead of 10 days, which is more normal, then they may have cold feet.

You want to schedule that home inspection contingency as soon as possible. Give them adequate time to inspect the home, but don’t give them forever. You don’t want to keep your home off the market any longer than you need to.

Don’t keep your home off the market any longer than you need to.

The next thing to look at is loan pre-approvals. Obviously, cash buyers are the premium. If you have one, that takes the lender and the appraiser out of the equation and makes the deal a lot easier. If you don’t have a cash buyer, however, make sure your buyer is pre-approved. There are different levels of pre-approval, so make sure you read any and all pre-approval letters to verify that they’ve been through underwriting.

You also want to be mindful of appraisal requirements. Appraisals are a big deal, and oftentimes in hot markets, appraisers can have a tough time finding comparables when values go up. Look at the appraisal contingencies with your agent and really dig into them.

Lastly, you want to pay attention to closing time. How a buyer handles closing time is a good indication of how willing they actually are to close on your property. If you have a buyer that’s out for a long period of time, say two or three months, that might indicate hesitation on their part or a lack of commitment. If this is the case, talk to your agent and find out why the buyer is extending this time period. Be sure to line the closing time up with what works for you.

If you have any questions about buying or selling, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.