How To Evaluate An Offer For Your Home When You Have Trouble Selling It

When you hire a real estate agent to sell your home for you, the agent will work hard to find a buyer for your house. In some cases, finding buyers is easy. In other cases, it is more challenging. If it takes months for you to receive your first offer, you might have questions about how to respond to it. The offer might not be as good as you hoped for, but it is still an offer. Here are several things to evaluate as you determine how to respond to this offer.

Calculate the Offer's Bottom Line

Your real estate agent can help you determine the offer's bottom line, which is essential to know when you receive an offer. The bottom line represents the amount the buyer offers to pay for your house minus the contingencies that you must pay.

For example, suppose the buyer offers $200,000 for your house but asks for $30,000 in contingencies. In this example, the bottom line is $170,000. The bottom-line amount represents the amount you will receive if you agree to the deal. Can you live with accepting this amount? Is it much lower than you expected? If it is lower than you would like, you might want to reject the offer. However, if you are having trouble selling the house, it might be worthwhile to counter it or accept it.

Evaluate the Challenges You Face

Before responding to the offer, you might want to consider the challenges you face with selling this home. How long has it been for sale? Have you had many showings? Why is no one buying the house? These are the questions to talk to your real estate agent about to determine how to respond to the offer when it is lower than you wanted.

If you cannot find a buyer for the property, is there a chance that this will be the best offer you might receive for it? If you suspect that this is the best amount you can get for the house, you might want to accept it while understanding the loss. If you think you might receive a better offer, you may decide to counter this one or wait for a better one. Your agent will help you decide what your options are and which is the best to use.

If you have questions about selling a house, make sure you discuss these things with a real estate agent.


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