Do you refuse an early offer just because it's early when selling your property?
The short answer is no, you shouldn't refuse an early offer. I'm not saying you should accept ALL early offers, just don’t refuse them because they are early. I’ve seen sellers reject over asking price offers from excellent buyers in the first week or two of marketing, only to sell under asking price 3 months later.
According to Rightmove, 70% of interest in a house for sale, comes in the first 4 weeks of marketing. That is your premium price opportunity.
You actually have a better chance of getting a higher offer early on in the marketing as that can be used as leverage against the buyer to push them up i.e. you would say to the buyer “at this stage, as it’s so early in the marketing, your offer will need to be X”… the fear of loss factor then gets involved and 9 times out of 10 you will be able to agree a dale.
Each offer, whether early in the marketing or not, needs to be assessed on it’s individual merits:
According to Rightmove, 70% of interest in a house for sale, comes in the first 4 weeks of marketing. That is your premium price opportunity.
You actually have a better chance of getting a higher offer early on in the marketing as that can be used as leverage against the buyer to push them up i.e. you would say to the buyer “at this stage, as it’s so early in the marketing, your offer will need to be X”… the fear of loss factor then gets involved and 9 times out of 10 you will be able to agree a dale.
Each offer, whether early in the marketing or not, needs to be assessed on it’s individual merits:
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Offer amount
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Buyers position (i.e. cash, mortgage)
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Financial situation (i.e. amount of mortgage deposit etc)
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and most importantly, motivation… It may be that they have been waiting for a house in your road for 6 months. That’s gold dust and the chances of that sale completing, even if there are slight issues in a survey, is probably 90% vs a 66% national average as they’re a ‘minority’ buyer. However if a buyer has made offers on 3 houses at the weekend, yours being one of them, then clearly you have to question their motivation and most likely not agree a sale to them.
Only once you’ve got all the facts can you make an informed decision to move forward.
Author: Christos Nikolaou
BEng Mechanical Engineering, MSc Real Estate, ETEK Property Valuer, Register and Licensed Real Estate Agent.Christos Nikolaou is the founder and Managing Director of Property Canvas, he holds a license as an Estate Agent from the Association of Real Estate Agents of Cyprus and he is a registered Property Valuer in the Technical and Scientific Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK). He is the author of our “Do you refuse an early offer just because it's early when selling your property?” and is a certified advance negotiator.
