Three days after we listed a house, I called the seller with an offer in hand. It was nearly full price. Few contingencies. And a quick close.
She wanted to wait. “What if more people will come along and we miss out on something better?” she reasoned. “We just listed. There’s still time.”
I’ve heard some version of that sentence over and over. And more often than not, I watch the same thing happen. If the seller chooses to wait it out, the offer disappears, and the next one that shows up is lower.
Here’s what happens. The buyers who show up in the first week already did their homework. They’ve been watching the market for months and already toured multiple homes. They know a good listing when it hits their inbox, and they move on it before anyone else gets the chance. That urgency shows up in the offer terms: full price, a fast close, barely any contingencies. That’s a motivated buyer who already lost a house or two and refuses to lose another one.
Every week that passes after that first offer, the buyer pool changes. The serious, fast-moving buyers already found something. What’s left showing up in week three or four are people still shopping casually, buyers testing the market with a lowball number, or buyers who noticed your home sitting and wonder what’s wrong with it.
I watched a seller turn down a full-price offer in week one because she wanted to see what else might come in. Six weeks later, she accepted an offer $40,000 lower than the one she’d walked away from. Same house, same condition. Different buyer pool, because the good ones had already moved on to other listings by then.
That doesn’t mean every first offer deserves a yes. A lowball offer from an unqualified buyer is still a lowball offer, no matter how fast it shows up. Look hard at the actual terms: the price, the financing, the contingencies, the closing timeline.
But if that first offer is solid and it came in fast, take it seriously. In my experience, that’s usually as good as it gets.
What about the house that sits for 30 days and finally gets an offer below asking?
That offer deserves as much respect as the one from week one. Maybe more.
By day 30, the buyer pool has already turned over. The buyers who move fast already toured the house early and passed. Everyone shopping now knows the house has been sitting, and that knowledge sits in their head while they write their number. They’re pricing in the question every buyer in that range is quietly asking: what’s wrong with it?
A day-30 offer under asking is often the best offer left on the table. The buyers willing to pay more already came and went in week one, back when the house still felt fresh.
Waiting past that point usually buys you another 30 days of the same pattern: a smaller pool, more suspicion about the days-on-market number. And often, a lower offer than the one already on the table.
So when a below-asking offer lands at day 30, weigh it against what’s actually likely to show up next: a shrinking, more skeptical buyer pool, probably offering less than what’s already in front of you.
Carrie Pierce
Questions about your home or your local market? Questions about your home or your local market? Or need help finding a great Realtor where you live? Give me a call. I’m always happy to help.
📧 carrie@carriepierce.net
📱 425-518-1176
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