When Should Sellers Respond to Offers?

The question of when you should respond to an offer as a seller is one we get quite frequently, especially in a market like this. Most agents are advising their clients to hold off on responding to offers until after the first weekend they’ve listed, in which an open house will often be held.

This benefits buyers because many can only go out to look at homes on weekends when they don’t have to work. It gives everyone equal footing to get into the property and enough time to prepare financing. The seller benefits as well because they don’t have to show the property as much and can get all the offers around the same time.

When you’re responding to an offer as a seller, you do have four different options:

1. Accept the offer.
2. Make a counter-offer.
3. Reject the offer.
4. No response to the offer.

“You want to be gracious, not forceful.”That being said, a seller really isn’t going to ignore an offer unless it’s blatantly ridiculous. The real key to getting your offer accepted is understanding timing. Maybe the seller is waiting for other offers to come in before deciding because they just listed. However, if the home has been on the market for a month or more, the seller is probably very anxious to get an offer.

I recommend that you call the seller’s agent and ask them what would be enough time for a response. This is a gracious way to make it clear to them that you still want the home.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email anytime. We look forward to hearing from you!