Myth #5 from Annalisa Burgos’of HGTV’s FrontDoor.com “6 Myths of Buying a House.” is “If your offer was accepted right away, then you offered too much.”
Buyer’s Remorse: I love this myth! And it is completely a myth. It’s pure buyer’s remorse. You feel like you left money on the table if the sellers accepted your initial offer and then you go back thinking, “Well, maybe I should have offered less…then maybe the sellers would have accepted less.”
That is totally untrue.
Delay by Seller: There are a number of reasons why a seller might accept your offer right away, and not all of them mean that you left money on the table as a buyer.
- The sellers could have had a time constraint where they did not want to risk waiting a day or two for your response.
- Maybe the sellers have another house they want to buy, and they are ready to move forward on that house.
- Perhaps you hit right on the sweet spot of what price they were looking for, so they said, “This is perfect–it’s kismet that the buyer offered exactly what our bottom line price is. Let’s make this work.”
- There could be something else about your offer that really spoke to them, such as the fact that you didn’t have a contingency; or that you had all of your paperwork in order; and that your pre-qualification letter from your lender was accurate and strong.
Acceptance by Seller:
- A seller in this market might just look at your initial offer and say, “That is a great offer and we do not want to go back and forth.”
- A seller might also accept your offer because they want to keep negotiations on good terms. They want to make sure the process goes along smoothly and it is not worth $1000-2000 for them to go back and forth negotiating.
This is my favorite of the six myths because I see this all the time. In my experience, buyers who feel this way when their offer is accepted right away only feel it for a very short time. Those buyers get back in the house for their home inspection, or they tell a friend or family member that they got the house, and the buyers are so excited because that house is the right one, and they know it was meant to be.
I look forward to your comments either below or at Amy@AmyShair.com, and we’re almost down to the last myth. Stay tuned for Myth #6 very soon.
This is Amy. Call Amy for your Shair of the Market!