You have been preparing for months.
You did everything you could to make your home the best it has ever been.
You decluttered everything, took down all the cute photos of your kid’s, painted,
cleaned, yard work every weekend, and now the home is on the market.
After a few days on the market you get an offer.
It’s a great price, but you what else should you worry about?
Here are the 5 reasons to NOT take that offer
The buyer isn’t qualified
It is great if a buyer wants to pay full price for your home, but how do you know if they can afford it? First, they need to submit a pre-qualification or pre-approval letter with their offer. If they didn’t send it with the offer don’t respond until they have provided it. Keep in mind, that not all financial institution’s pre-qualification letters are created equal. There are online banks that buyers can submit some of their information and it will automatically generate a pre-qualification letter. It is best for your agent or yourself to contact the lender directly and verify they have submitted the proper documents (at a minimum pulled a credit report and received income verification) to the lender.
A pre-approval letter is better than a pre-qualification letter. With a pre-approval the buyer has submitted all their information and it has been underwritten by an bank underwriter. It is always preferred to have a pre-approval whenever possible.
The offer is contingent upon them selling their home
If the buyer has to sale their home, you may not want to take the offer. Your timing and how quickly they can sell their home should be taken into consideration. If their home asking price is reasonable for the area should also be a deciding indicator. For example, if they live in a $350,000 neighborhood, but in order to buy your home they need to sale their home for $450,000. This might not be the right buyer for your home. By waiting for them to sale their home, you may miss out on other potential buyers for yours. You should evaluate all the details of their sale before accepting their offer. We deal with these offers all the time, and most work out. However, we always do our homework first on the entire situation.
Not enough earnest money
Earnest money is what buyers put down to show they are serious about buying a home. Earnest money can become liquidated damages if the buyer backs out. Most contracts have contingencies for retaining a buyer’s earnest money, like home inspections and financing. However, if the buyer simply decides to not buy the home after those contingencies are met, the seller can take the earnest money as damages. In most cases earnest money is not left to forfeit, but if it is, the more the better. There isn’t a specific amount that is an official standard, but we generally see around 1% of the sales price as a fair amount.
Long closing or contingency dates
These days most homes close within 30-45 days. My wife and I sold our first home before we were agents, and the buyer had a 60 day close. The buyers wanted to close at the start of the school year. We took their offer and after 58 days they backed out. We wasted an entire summer “off market” waiting for their closing date. In the end, we took an offer $10,000 less than the first, a few weeks after putting it back on the market.
Unreasonable inclusions or repair requests
Sometimes offers come in and the buyer wants to include some personal items. Maybe you have a desk that fits a space perfectly, or a nice hot tub in the back yard. These items can be included in the purchase if you don’t want/need the hot tub or desk. However, if they want the kitchen table, living room sofa, and the family dog, you may want to reconsider their offer. Sometimes buyers feel like they need to have everything “upgraded”, especially if the home you are selling is older. As a seller you don’t need to “upgrade” your home if it is priced correctly.
At the end of the day the buyer and seller need to agree on price and terms. We recommend you think of the big picture and ultimately consider your goals. If you have any questions about buying or selling a home, please feel free to email or call us anytime.
