You’re a home seller and you just received a lowball offer for your home—what do you do?

First, I always advise my clients to respond to all the offers they receive, even if they’re lower than you wanted or anticipated. That’s a home-selling must for a multitude of reasons. That said, here are a few tips for responding to low offers:

1. Counter their offer, but stay close to your list price. This will show the buyer that you’re a strong negotiator and is a way to see how high they’re willing to go (i.e., how serious they are about purchasing your home).

“Responding to all offers you receive is a home-selling must.”

2. Politely decline their offer. We recently had to decline an offer for a seller’s home that was more than $100,000 short of the list price. We simply told them that the seller wasn’t comfortable responding to that offer, and 24 hours later, they gave us an offer at the full list price. Being polite and helpful to the other party’s agent positioned us to get the house sold. Being standoffish or rude, however, might have led to a less favorable result.

Obviously, no one wants to receive a lowball offer on their house. However, if you price your home correctly according to the market in the first place, the frequency of those offers can be mitigated. You should, ultimately, do your best to keep your emotions in check—it is a business decision, after all.

If you have any other questions about this or other real estate topics, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to hear from you.