Brought to you by Scott P. Rogers, Funkhouser Real Estate Group, 540-578-0102, scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com
Brought to you by Scott P. Rogers, Funkhouser Real Estate Group, 540-578-0102, scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
If you're trying to buy a house in 2021, it is not uncommon to make an offer on a house -- only to have it NOT be accepted. After all, many new listings are seeing 3, 5, 10, 15 offers within a few days of being listed for sale -- and clearly, the seller can only accept one of those offers.
As a result, many would-be buyers are finding themselves wondering WHY didn't the seller accept MY offer!?!?!
Was it all about price? Did I not offer them enough money?
Well, yes, there is a good chance that your offer was not accepted because someone else was willing to pay a higher price for the house -- but there are quite a few other reasons why your offer might not have been accepted.
Here are some of them...
- Perhaps one of the buyers made a cash offer. A seller is always grateful to not have to deal with financing and an appraisal.
- Perhaps the winning buyer had a larger downpayment than you. If a seller sees one offer with 95% financing and another with 80% financing they will often prefer the buyer with the larger downpayment.
- The winning buyer was likely paying all of their own closing costs, which would be seen as much more favorable to a seller than if you were proposing that the seller pay part or all of your closing costs.
- Perhaps the winning buyer made a larger deposit with their offer - along the lines of $5,000 instead of $1,000. Technically, this one shouldn't necessarily sway a seller -- because a deposit typically goes back to a buyer if the deal doesn't close as a result of a contract contingency -- but a seller will oftentimes be more impressed by a larger deposit.
- The winning buyer may have decided not to include a home inspection contingency or radon test contingency.
- The winning buyer may have not included an appraisal contingency OR may have specifically stated that they are willing to pay a certain amount of money above and beyond the appraised value.
- The winning buying almost certainly (in the current market) did not have a contingency related to the sale or settlement on the sale of their current home.
- The winning buyer definitely and absolutely included a pre-approval letter from a lender.
Those are but a few of the reasons why your very strong offer may not have been accepted by a property seller. It can, after all, be pretty surprising when you make a very strong offer and then are told that you didn't win.
As a side note, we usually won't know why exactly your offer was not selected -- but we can always ask to see what the seller's agent can share. That feedback, if provided, can help guide your decisions when you make an offer on the next exciting new listing to hit the market.
