You just received a purchase offer from someone who wants to buy your home. Youre excited and relieved, until you realize the purchase offer is much lower than your asking price. How should you respond? Set aside your emotions, focus on the facts, and prepare a counteroffer that keeps the buyers involved in the deal.
A purchase offer, even a very low one, means someone wants to purchase your home. Unless the offer is laughably low, it deserves a cordial response, whether thats a counteroffer or an outright rejection. Remain calm and discuss with your real estate agent the many ways you can respond to a lowball purchase offer.
Unless youve received multiple purchase offers, the best response is to counter the low offer with a price and terms youre willing to accept. Some buyers make a low offer because they think thats customary, theyre afraid theyll overpay, or they want to test your limits.
A counteroffer signals that youre willing to negotiate. One strategy for your counteroffer is to lower your price, but remove any concessions such as seller assistance with closing costs, or features such as kitchen appliances that youd like to take with you.
Price is paramount for most buyers and sellers, but its not the only deal point. A low purchase offer might make sense if the contingencies are reasonable, the closing date meets your needs, and the buyer is preapproved for a mortgage. Consider what terms you might change in a counteroffer to make the deal work.
Ask your real estate agent whether any homes that are comparable to yours (known as comps) have been sold or put on the market since your home was listed for sale. If those new comps are at lower prices, you might have to lower your price to match them if you want to sell.
Buyers sometimes attach comps to a low offer to try to convince the seller to accept a lower purchase offer. Take a look at those comps. Are the homes similar to yours? If so, your asking price might be unrealistic. If not, you might want to include in your counteroffer information about those homes and your own comps that justify your asking price.
If the buyers dont include comps to justify their low purchase offer, have your real estate agent ask the buyers agent for those comps.
If the purchase offer is too low to counter, but you dont have a better option, ask your real estate agent to call the buyers agent and try to narrow the price gap so that a counteroffer would make sense. Also, ask your real estate agent whether the buyer (or buyers agent) has a reputation for lowball purchase offers. If thats the case, you might feel freer to reject the offer.
Buyers are sensitive to signs that a seller may be receptive to a low purchase offer. If your home is vacant or your homes listing describes you as a motivated seller, youre signaling youre open to a low offer.
If you can remedy the situation, maybe by renting furniture or asking your agent not to mention in your home listing that youre motivated, the next purchase offer you get might be more to your liking.
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