Is the first offer TRULY the best offer?

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There’s a real estate saying…”Your first offer is usually your best offer.”  Like “…location, location, location…”, everyone seems to know that one.  I’ve had sellers ask me, “Is it true?  Is the first offer the best offer?”  Answer… “no, but sometimes it feels like it!”

I listed a property on February 2nd, and we had an offer on the 6th.  It was incredibly poorly written (nothing on the financing addendum except the buyer’s names!), but for full price, seller to pay 3% of buyer’s closing costs.  That is a great starting point, and the sellers were absolutely willing to work with it.  But, due to the blank financing addendum and the ignorance of the buyer’s agent as to the buyer’s financial status, the sellers were handicapped as to exactly how to counter.  The sellers countered, and they and I agreed that, given the information we were given (or rather, the lack thereof), it was the best that could be done.

Well, the buyers stopped it all dead in its tracks and refused to negotiate further.  I knew the sellers had made the right counter.  I knew we’d get another offer.  I knew it was well-priced and clean and well-presented.  I knew it would probably go for just under asking price and the sellers wouldn’t have to pay for anyone else’s costs. But, boy oh boy, I kept having the nagging feeling that we should have jumped on that first offer and wrestled it to ground, poorly written and all!

Well, multiple offers came in 8 days later, and the sellers accepted the one for just under asking price and wherein they didn’t need to pay the buyer’s closing costs.  It was the longest week of second-guessing I’ve ever experienced! 

 

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

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