Assessing an Offer: What Comox Valley Sellers Need to Know

Congratulations! You’ve received an offer on your Comox Valley property. How do you know if it’s the best possible offer for you? Your REALTOR will be your guide: they’ll take you through it step by step, review all the pros and cons, and make recommendations based on your personal situation. If there are multiple offers, they’ll walk you through each one, highlight your best options, and negotiate on your behalf to get the best possible result.

There are things you’ll want to be prepared for when the sale gets to this point. They include price, conditions, and even how serious the buyers are.

How much are they offering?

This is the first thing most people look at, and with good reason. Everyone wants to maximize their return, but the amount shouldn’t be the only factor you consider.

There are several cases where buyers have won without submitting the highest offer. Sometimes sellers make their decision based on factors you wouldn’t expect or that could be somewhat nebulous. Willingness to provide a deposit right away, accommodate closing dates or condition dates or having few conditions, no inspection, no financing—these sorts of things could influence an owner’s choices.

Are there conditions?

An offer to purchase will often come with conditions, which can include:

Financing

A buyer can make their offer conditional on getting a mortgage. There’s some risk to the seller here. If the buyers don’t qualify, the deal will fall through. Sometimes even when the buyer has been pre-approved or pre-qualified, something comes up that affects their ability to get financing. A lower offer that’s firm (no conditions) can be a better option for sellers than a higher one with a financing condition.

If there are multiple offers, giving priority to someone who has done their due diligence is likely to succeed. It’s reassurance the sale won’t fall apart.

Inspection

Having an offer that’s conditional on inspection adds risk. If the inspection identifies an issue, the deal could fall through. For that reason, sellers might choose an unconditional offer, even if it’s slightly lower than a conditional one.

Should you accept an offer with an inspection condition? That completely depends on how confident you are that there are no major issues. If an owner has taken good care of their home, they may go for a higher offer with a home inspection condition versus a lower one without.

If an inspection reveals a big issue, that could impact future offers. If the buyers end up backing out, that will mean your property goes back on the market. There’s the possibility the listing will get stale and future offers will be impacted as a result.

Closing date

You might get an offer that’s conditional on the sale of the buyers’ previous home. Or you may get one that wants to extend or shorten your preferred closing date. If you’re willing to accept an offer with a closing date that doesn’t line up with what you want, you have a number of options. Your REALTOR can help you figure this out.

One of the options might be a “rent back” or the ability to stay in the house at no cost. This would allow the buyers to take ownership on the agreed-upon closing date, but the sellers would remain in the home for a month or two and pay the new owners rent or stay on without paying rent.

In this way the sellers have the cash in hand to buy a new property and they have time to find the right one. You can also get bridge financing to cover the overlap, or have your moving company put your belongings in storage while you stay in a short-term rental.

Ultimately, nobody really loves any of these options, and the sellers may just say no to this condition and wait for another buyer.

Condo status review

If you’re selling a Comox Valley condo, buyers will want to see how healthy the condo corporation is from a financial and administrative perspective. Potential buyers will want to review several condominium documents prior to removing conditions and it will be a condition in the offer.

Buyers don’t want to be surprised by financial or legal problems. It’s good practice to have these documents readily available for buyers.

Who’s making the offer?

Is it an individual or a corporation? For some sellers, knowing whether the offer is coming from a family or a developer can make a difference. Knowing your place might be torn down could be hard. The owner may be happy to know another family will enjoy the home you’ve loved.

How serious are the buyers?

The offer might come with a higher-than-standard deposit, and even have a deposit cheque attached. There may be a personal letter explaining why they want to buy your home. Maybe they’re looking for a backyard for their kids, or they’ve been dreaming about living in your building. Both are signs that buyers are serious.

This can be advantageous as a Comox Valley seller, because it means you’re dealing with people who are just as eager to get the deal done as you are. It also means there may be some flexibility or room for negotiation.

Is the first offer the best offer?

It depends on how well you’ve priced the property. If the listing is at market value in a ‘normal’ market, then yes, the first offer will probably be a good one. After it’s been on the market for awhile, people may start to wonder why it’s sitting and offer less.

Accepting, countering, or rejecting the offer

Once you’ve reviewed an offer with your REALTOR, you have three options:

1. Accept. Say yes, ensure any conditions are met, and proceed with the sale.
2. Counteroffer. You can sign the offer back to say you want some changes agreed to. They can accept your counter or submit their own counteroffer. This is where a REALTOR really comes in handy. Negotiation continues until both parties accept or one rejects without countering.
3. Reject. You can simply say no to an offer. Even if it is a low offer, countering rather than turning it down outright may be the best idea. If you need to go back to those buyers later, you’ll be at a disadvantage. But if you counter and they reject, you have leverage if they come knocking on your door again.

Another reason not to say no? Sometimes cultural differences can be a factor. People from different communities have different ways of negotiating. Don’t be insulted by a low offer, but consider it a starting point.

When it comes to selecting the best offer for your home, you need to consider a myriad of factors. Your REALTOR will help provide context to everything you look at and give guidance based on their expertise.

The article above is for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal or other advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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