Getting multiple offers is a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem that requires a clear process. The highest number isn’t automatically the best offer, and how you handle the situation affects whether it stays competitive or falls apart.
How to Choose Between Offers
Price is the most visible factor, but it’s rarely the only one that matters. A few things to weigh alongside the offer amount.
Financing strength matters as much as price in many cases. An all-cash offer or one with a large down payment and strong pre-approval carries less risk of falling through than a higher offer with thin financing, a small down payment, or a lender you don’t recognize. A lower offer that’s genuinely more likely to close can be worth more than a higher one that has a real chance of falling apart partway through escrow.
Contingencies affect how much risk you’re taking on. An offer without an appraisal or inspection contingency, or with a shorter contingency period, gives you more certainty than a higher offer loaded with conditions that give the buyer multiple ways to back out or renegotiate later.
Closing timeline matters if you have a specific date you need to hit, whether that’s a purchase on the other end or a lease situation. An offer that aligns with your timeline can be worth more to you than one that doesn’t, even at a similar price.
Down payment size is a proxy for how serious and financially stable a buyer is. A large down payment signals lower risk of a last-minute financing problem.
The practical approach is to have your agent build a simple comparison across these factors for every offer, not just rank them by price. The number that looks best on paper isn’t always the offer most likely to actually close at that number.
How to Handle Lowball Offers
A lowball offer in a multiple offer situation is usually easy to handle: you’re not obligated to respond to every offer with equal effort, and you can simply let it go if it’s far enough off market value that a counter isn’t worth the time. In a single-offer situation, it’s worth a bit more care.
Before dismissing it, consider whether the offer reflects a buyer testing the waters or a genuine read on your home’s condition or pricing. If several buyers are independently coming in low, that’s worth paying attention to as a signal about your price, not just a negotiating tactic to ignore. If it’s an isolated lowball while other interest is stronger, a brief, professional counter at or near your asking price is usually enough, either the buyer comes up to a serious number or they don’t, and you haven’t lost anything by trying.
Avoid responding emotionally or ignoring a lowball offer outright without at least a counter, particularly early in a listing. Sometimes a buyer starts low simply expecting negotiation and will move significantly with a reasonable counter.
Counteroffer Strategy for Sellers
In a multiple offer situation, sellers generally have a few paths. You can counter your top one or two offers individually, asking each to improve price, remove contingencies, or adjust terms. You can issue a multiple counteroffer to several buyers at once, inviting best and final terms from all of them by a set deadline. Or, if one offer is clearly strongest across price and terms, you can simply accept it without countering at all.
A best and final approach tends to work well when you have three or more offers that are reasonably close, since it creates real competitive pressure without dragging out the process. Countering a single top offer privately can make more sense when one offer is clearly ahead and you don’t want to risk losing it by shopping it against the field too aggressively.
Whichever approach you use, put a clear deadline on your counter or best and final request. Open-ended negotiations give buyers room to stall, and a defined deadline keeps the pressure on without feeling like a stunt.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind Throughout
Get everything in writing, verbal assurances from a buyer’s agent about how “serious” their client is mean nothing in escrow. Keep your agent informed of every offer and counter in real time so nothing is misrepresented to competing buyers. And remember that the goal isn’t necessarily the single highest number, it’s the offer most likely to close at a number and timeline that actually works for you.
If you’re navigating a multiple offer situation right now, or want a strategy in place before you list, get in touch and Efrat can help you evaluate what you’re working with.