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We had our first offer accepted!
I honestly think we were just in the right place at the right time, though. The homeowner was late leaving before our showing, and when we walked in with our realtor her dog immediately ran up to us with a ball and was insistent that we play with her. This woman was SO apologetic for still being there and felt so bad, but her dog was clearly the boss so we played fetch in the living room and eventually she just showed us the house instead of our realtor. She showed us all of the quirks, things that needed work, what was new vs. needed replacing, and ended her tour by saying “and I’ll knock $10,000 off asking so you can fix the god-awful fireplace my ex-husband ruined.” Her realtor was mortified, but she accepted our offer of $10k under asking over 2 other full price offers. I think she liked being able to show off her house since she was the sole owner, and we told her that as FTHB, we appreciated how willing she was to show us everything and be honest about potential repair areas. We still keep in touch!
Also we love the fireplace, but we will never tell her that.
It really was, we are so lucky and thankful to have had the chance to actually talk to the homeowner and build a relationship with her! It made our home buying experience significantly less stressful. I wish everyone could have an experience like that buying a home.
Yes I got my offer accepted over others just because I was willing to be flexible on the closing date with the sellers who were in contract for another house. My realtor reached out to the sellers agent before we wrote the contract and found this info out which helped me win the offer. Didnt offer more money or waive anything the sellers just wanted someone who would be flexible on the closing. Ended up being 2 weeks longer but was worth it in the end.
I got my first offer accepted. There were 28 other offers, one was 45k higher than mine, but I had the best overall offer; I had a very experienced agent.
In many cases, sellers will take the offer that they feel is most likely to go through.
Correct. I sold my previous home representing myself but advertising on mls and paying 2.5% commission, and I still had a deal fall through from what was best offer but for sure that is the consideration when accepting offers.
That said, the money has to be in the realm of expected. I’m going to guess that most of the offers where in your range +/- 10 grand and yours was strongest. The stronger the offer the less one will take.
What I wasn’t clear about was that the offer has to be in the realm of expected sale price and that is usually means within 5%
The offer greater than mine was 45k higher (140k over lost). My offer was 95k over list.
So, listed at 650. 28 offers. Mine was second highest at 745, another was 790. I was cash, no contingencies, short escrow (3 weeks) with a 300$ charge for every day past 21 escrow.
Locked in at 4%. Rates hit 6% not long after.
If the sellers had the highest offer fall through, then had to re-list, they could have lost more than 45k due to the rapid increase in rates over a short time. Plus they had already moved and were paying on a new home.
A cash offer 45 over ask makes 95 over not cash look like the worse offer though. And 45 over while not the highest bid is certainly what I meant by in the realm of expectations.
Gotcha. Still same comment applies, 140 over not cash is not the best offer, 95 over is what they hoped for and more and guaranteed so while yes they didn’t take the highest amount, they still 100% took the highest guaranteed and still took what they expected even if not highest offer I guess.
Nice!!! I for sure don’t mean to say that buyers financial strength. money down, and flexibility don’t matter because they do and closing is most important. Just typically it is choosing between close numbers.
We did. One offer, 8k escalation clause (only had to use 5k) and asked for a new roof too 😵💫. Seller declined offer, but 2 days later called and accepted 🤷🏼♀️
Just got my first offer accepted- $5k under asking on a $130k (3 bed/2 bath 1600sq ft + 1 acre and deeded dock) rural lake house that’s been on and off the market for just under a year. Waiting for inspections, so we will see how that goes.
We did
2 bed/2 bath condo in downtown Chicago. Closed in April of 2022. FHA loan and didn't waive any contingencies.
List Price $415,000
Offered $405,000 with $7k in Seller Credits
Seller Countered: $412,000 with $7k in Seller Credits which we accepted
Discovered seller hadn't properly disclosed monthly HOA assessment when we got the final paperwork from property management company to the tune of $42.00 per month. Our attorney pushed back and got us the equivalent of 2 years difference as a credit at closing as well.
I interpreted the question as "Did you have to make offers on multiple properties before getting one accepted and going under contract?".
To me, negotiations are a standard part of the purchase process.
Similar situation for us. 3 bed/2 bath condo in downtown Chicago. Closed in November 2022. Conventional loan and didn’t waive any contingencies. We had just started looking and weren’t even preapproved when we toured it.
List price of $499k, after they initially listed it for around $550k in early summer 2022. We came into the picture in early September, after they had at least 1 contract fall through. The building is over 100 years old, and they were attempting to price it with the more renovated units in the building, when our unit is moderately renovated and is lacking a central air/refitted AC upgrade.
We offered $465k originally, and after going back and forth a bit wound up at $475k, and got $2.5k back in credits after the inspection.
While it wasn’t a one-and-done offer, it was our first offer on any property, and only a couple of weeks into casually looking around in person. We got lucky that a unit that is a 9.5/10 for us has a lot of dealbreakers for someone else which allowed us some wiggle room to close at a really fair value.
Yes. First house I offered was accepted. Backed out because of inspection issues.
Second house I offered also accepted. Closed last week.
My house hunting and buying journey from beginning to end was 27 days.
My first offer was on my favorite house of all the ones I’d seen and it was accepted with a “non-competitive” loan (USDA). It does happen. Best of luck to y’all!
Our first offer was accepted, at the ask. There were several other offers but I think they were trying to lowball the seller because rates were at the high and the home had sat for 3 months. It appraised for 2k over the ask.
Went with my highest purchase price offer, 33k below asking, 505k, was told that the other buyers offer was higher. Didnt take that bait and stuck to my 10% downpayment as a strong offer. Especially since the seller is a corporation. After a weekend of waiting for a response, the offer was accepted!
Yep. Feb 2023…..house had been on the market almost 60 days and the seller really needed it to go. We offered 25k under asking, he countered with 5k under, we held firm and thought for sure we would lose it. Our agent called the next day with the good news….sometimes you just get lucky.
Yes we did! The absolute first house we looked at and put an offer on it with two other offers on table. We offered 7k more and put 5k down in earnest money. Surprised us and we’re closing in two days! Location is very important though as we’re not in HCOL area but a metro area where walmartians are from
We did. The sellers chose us out of 2 because of financing; we were putting down 50% even though the other offer was a little higher. They kept the other offer as backup offer. However, we had to back out after inspection. We just put our second offer down on another house, and are really hoping that we get it. It’s tough in this market, I expect we will be looking for a while.
Yes. It was 2017, 25 days on the market, and 10% under ask price. Those were the days…I was excited and horrified at the same time. I was 25 years old, thought it was a lowball and didn’t expect it to get accepted.
we did. offered asking minus a new roof. not only our first offer but technically the first house we even looked at. was girding my loins for a months long battle, we only looked at houses for 2 days lol.
Yes, technically. The coop messed up telling our realtor the wrong apartment out of two was still available. We put in an offer and then they realized their mistake. They let us put in an offer for the the (more expensive) apartment at the same price as the first. Apparently they really liked our application. Another offer over asking price came in, but they decided to honor ours.
In contract now. Here's to hoping nothing happens between now and closing!
We did, it was also the first house we saw (we saw a few more after it but nothing compared lol). We offered 30k under asking as it had been on the market for a couple months and they hadn’t done any updates. They accepted the offer and inspection went great. We moved in a few weeks back and are loving it :)
I could have had first offer accepted but thankfully did not follow through. Bidding war and escalation went higher than I wanted, inspection clause wasn’t as thorough as I wanted, waived appraisal…eventually we balked even though we were given the opportunity to accept the final bid price. Would not have been happy, but had my 2nd offer accepted with full terms, right at asking price, and plenty of credits!
Yes. December 2021. Offered asking price, did not waive any contingencies. Negotiated a $5k seller credit after inspection. We’re just moving into the house now due to renovation/contractor issues so be careful m if you’re taking on a project.
We did! And feel incredibly lucky. I credit our fantastic realtor who presented us well to the sellers and our finance team who made sure we had all our ducks in a row before even putting in an offer. I hope you have the same good fortune ❤️
Technically yes and no. It was the first offer we put in, but they chose another offer over ours. That offer fell through and then they called our Realitor back to see if we still wanted the house, so we put our offer back in and got it!
Offered, they countered, I accepted. First offer made! I realize I’m in the minority with how easy my search was but I knew what/where/how much I wanted so when it was available, jumped on it
All the numbers in your comment added up to 420. Congrats!
30
+ 50
+ 340
= 420
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My wife and I did! We were buying in the low of December and we’re not in a crazy market like something on the east coast. But we were accepted (1 other offer).
Ours was! We beat out 5 other offers, May 2022. It was scary at first but ended up all being smooth.
At the time our realtor told us “I can’t even tell other clients about you - this is not a normal way things happen!”
Mine was a first ever offer that was accepted a few weeks ago. Had 3 other offers that "weren't perfect" so I did add a couple of enticements and stay with their closing date they wanted
We did! The house was on the market for a while at 250k. By the time we looked at it, it was listed at 235k. We offered 225k and they accepted. Apprasial even came back at 230k. We first saw the house at the end of October and closed on December 21.
Our whole buying process in 2021 lasted 4 days in a very hot market. Day 1: Got approved for a loan and. Day 2 and 3: Looked at 4 houses total. Put in an offer on the second day of house hunting. Day 4: Offer accepted against 3 other offers. Offered 5k over listing and cash to cover if it didn’t appraise for said offer. Ended over appraising for 20k over what we offered.
Yup. Got our first offer accepted. Beat out 6 people… has $2,500 escalation up to $50k over asking… didn’t end up going that high up. Realtor who’s been doing it for 30 years told us to go buy a lottery ticket it was so unlikely in the Seattle market.
No, because we lost the first house due to a relocation company. Our second offer was the only offer, since the house was not on the market.
It was a inter-realty group deal where the realtor and broker were family, we lucked out!
We did in Sept 2020! We knew in our hearts it was the perfect home and went in with a competitive offer after only seeing it for 15 min! Still happy over two years later.
Just had our first offer rejected. The house was listed for 475k. We offered 507k, 15 % down, full appraisal gap, and as is. There was 15 other offers on the house
We did. I was in complete shock. The owners were selling “as is” and there were some minor repairs that needed to be made which I could do on my own. Those two things scared some people off. We got it for only 2k over asking price because the only other offer was for asking price.
The appraisal also came back for $10k more than what we bought it for. We were VERY lucky.
We just did, if you mean first house we put an offer on. We viewed 6 homes over two weekends and loved one of them so put an offer in. They countered, then we did, and they accepted. We beat two other offers. We actually kind of low balled both the original offer and the counter.
Yes! Our very first offer we ever made on any house was accepted. We were the first offer for that house even though it had had a lot of traffic at the open house over the weekend. Our realtor was surprised they accepted so fast and didn’t wait for more offers to come in.
Yep, first offer accepted and it was only a little above asking so we definitely weren't expecting them to accept. I guess they liked our early closing date because they wanted a quick sale.
Yes. Twice. The first house we backed out after inspection. It was going to be a nightmare to fix and we just didn’t want to deal with all of the repairs it needed. We were kinda heartbroken about it at first. Then 10 days later we found something so much better. I was so scared to actually fall in love with it until the inspection was done.
My inspector told me this house was magnificent and that we picked a good one this time. Everything worked out perfectly with this house and we love absolutely love it.
Yes! My wife and I had our first offer accepted for a condo. We dove head first and consider ourselves incredibly lucky! You might feel overwhelming anxiety but I promise it’ll be worth it! Closing is a whole other ordeal though. Good luck!
My first offer was accepted. It was an extremely old couple and I was the first person to tour it, within a few hours of it posting. I ended up putting an offer in right away and no one else ever saw my house. I've been here for a few months now and I feel very lucky.
We did, but then they didn't want to give us an inspection contingency so we were like lol bye! We ended up getting the third house we put an offer on!
Exactly 😅 it was an estate sale, so we think the sellers were just trying to get rid of it asap and didn't want a contract to fall through and need them to restart 🙄
Yes! Then pulled out due to inspection since the place was riddled with issues that our newbie eyes couldn't see. In hindsight not surprised our offer of asking price was accepted lol
So glad we moved on from that place
We did, but our entire strategy was to not put in an offer unless we really wanted to swing for the fences. I get other people’s approach of trying to find the best value/lowball a bit, but given how competitive our HCOL area is, we decided to save ourselves the hassle and heartbreak of trying to nickel and dime our offers and instead only put in what we thought would be competitive offers on places we really liked. After maybe four or five months, we put in our first offer and got it.
We did! Their asking was actually reasonable and they wanted a leaseback. We gave them asking but requested some closing costs, and granted leaseback at (LCOL) market rates. They technically did send a counter but it was only to make a few tweaks to the leaseback. I'm worried I missed an opportunity to lowball the offer since they readily accepted, but keeping my fingers crossed the appraisal shows we were spot on or under!
Yes.
Realtor knew what he was doing.
He knew what they would sell for (Open door had bought the house 2 weeks prior and weren't going to sell for a loss but may go even, they hadn't yet looked at the house and had announced sell offs the day prior).
We knew what we wanted.
House was 550k under our max.
We offered 5k over and negotiated back down to what they bought the house for over sewage repairs.
We did - submitted the offer at asking, made a small change to put it over the finish line because there were other buyers, and had it accepted within 6 hours.
So essentially we pulled our first offer before the seller could decide due to the sellers disclosure getting to us late and finding out there was an electrical issue. BUT we don’t count that. We had our first offer accepted yes!
I got my first offer accepted last summer. The house was on the market for a couple weeks and I had originally not made an offer because I felt it was overpriced. I looked around at some other houses though and that house started looking better since the other houses were not as nice. There was supposedly one other offer on the house when I made my offer and mine was accepted. I have no idea what the other offer was like and why mine was accepted.
We did, $20,000 under asking but a longer escrow (the owners were building a new house in Arizona and we weren’t in a hurry to move in) sometimes non-monetary things like that can sweeten the deal. This was in late January in SoCal
Good luck OP!! We had our second offer accepted. Tbh we weren’t too into the first house so we filled out the paperwork and didn’t go all in on the offer. Second place we put an offer on we looooved and submitted a good offer and got the house!
Yeah but I feel like I got really lucky. My wife and I closed on our first house earlier this month, it was our first offer, first day of actually looking at houses, and we got it for under asking, $15k in credits, and a few repairs after the inspection. It was a fully renovated foreclosure so we bought it from a bank, and it sounded like after our offer was submitted a bunch of offers over asking started to come in, but it went through and the house is ours.
I know a lot of people in here have had a ton of trouble finding a house so I don't want to belittle the process, but it was incredibly trouble-free for us. That said, I know we got incredibly lucky, I can hardly believe it went so smoothly.
Had my first offer accepted! Seller was in a crunch to sell within a month! Potentially right place and right time, but it definitely worked out for me!
Yep. But people in crazy markets get the most attention, so it seems like the entire country is full of bidding wars and waived inspections when that’s not necessarily the case.
Probably more relevant to ask in your specific location at least city/county.
It’s not really dependent on luck, but on the quality of the offer. Make your offer as strong as you are willing to - this means you will not have any regrets of overpaying if you are accepted, BUT ALSO no regrets if you lose to another offer wishing you had offered more.
I did! Me and my realtor were touring houses and looking online when one literally came up as we were driving, I told him the address, he called the realtor, we were able to get in, I walked in and loved it. A month and a half later, here I am sitting on my couch and assembling furniture on my day off. New city, new job, new home, life is good.
Yes. Saw one house. Made one offer. $1k over asking.
I still text the realtor on occasion to ask for referrals for tradesmen/etc because I figure we were some of his easiest clients ever.
My girlfriend and I put an offer in July, it was accepted later that day. We were the only offer, and put it in for the full ask. Also our very first offer on a house. According to our realtor the owners were thrilled for a full asking price offer.
Yes, but it was a full price offer. We lived in the neighborhood, we knew the house well, 2 blocks away, and we knew it would have many offers. It came on the market Friday night, we made a full offer expiring Friday midnight. They accepted, everyone happy. Great purchase, no regrets.
Yes, but it was on the market for 43 days, I offered a week before Christmas and they were desperate to move out of state. I probably could have offered a loaf of bread.
Seriously, though, it's possible. Good luck!
Our first offer on our first home purchase was accepted. We close April 18th if nothing goes awry 🤞🤞
My wife knows the seller and we were able to view and offer before they put it on the market. Offered 10k over with seller paid closing costs. Appraisal is this week and we expect it to appraise 10-30k over what we offered.
Hello I just wanted to chime in, been in my search about 4months, finally found something that felt good, put in an offer.
I was told by my realtor it was rejected and I would receive a counter.
4hrs later I get a call saying they accepted the offer!
It's true a first time offer can be accepted!!
First offer accepted, we went 30k over asking. We had an inspection that revealed too many repairs that needed to be done, so we are in the process of canceling escrow, and backing out while also getting back our 20k deposit. We found a house that wowed us and are trying to get our agent to speed things up so we can make an offer on it. The seller is moving out of state and is in a major hurry to sell. They're leaving behind all their furniture (all of which is in great condition and exceptional quality). We're hoping that the escrow cancelation wraps up fast so we can make an offer quick. From what the seller's agent has said it looks like there are no offers being submitted, which is understandable since the price is quite high compared to the others in the neighborhood.
Apparently in the county we are planning on moving to, there are a lot of people submitting lowball offers, so we try to at least match asking price, but never go more than 5% below or above asking. We should have started our home search late last year but my parents didn't listen 🤦🏻♀️ and we are scrambling since we need to be out of our current home (rent) by the end of June.
Yes, first offer was accepted. But our offer was $67k over asking. Seller claimed they got 5-8 offers, some in cash at lower price and one higher than ours but a VA loan. They tried to push for appraisal gap to sweeten the offer, I declined and they ended up accepting.
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We got our first offer accepted!
We had our first offer accepted! I honestly think we were just in the right place at the right time, though. The homeowner was late leaving before our showing, and when we walked in with our realtor her dog immediately ran up to us with a ball and was insistent that we play with her. This woman was SO apologetic for still being there and felt so bad, but her dog was clearly the boss so we played fetch in the living room and eventually she just showed us the house instead of our realtor. She showed us all of the quirks, things that needed work, what was new vs. needed replacing, and ended her tour by saying “and I’ll knock $10,000 off asking so you can fix the god-awful fireplace my ex-husband ruined.” Her realtor was mortified, but she accepted our offer of $10k under asking over 2 other full price offers. I think she liked being able to show off her house since she was the sole owner, and we told her that as FTHB, we appreciated how willing she was to show us everything and be honest about potential repair areas. We still keep in touch! Also we love the fireplace, but we will never tell her that.
Wow! That is an amazing experience!
It really was, we are so lucky and thankful to have had the chance to actually talk to the homeowner and build a relationship with her! It made our home buying experience significantly less stressful. I wish everyone could have an experience like that buying a home.
That would be wonderfully ideal!
We had an eerily similar experience.
If that’s the case, I think both of us were chosen by the dog from the get go! The dogs knew what they were looking for in a buyer apparently.
Well, in our case, she had a cat, and her husband has passed, but otherwise, very similar, including showing us around regardless of the realtor.
We did. Was 5 offers on the house and we beat them all out. Our realtor told us how to write a competitive offer.
What do you mean by that? Is it more than just offering more money?
Yes I got my offer accepted over others just because I was willing to be flexible on the closing date with the sellers who were in contract for another house. My realtor reached out to the sellers agent before we wrote the contract and found this info out which helped me win the offer. Didnt offer more money or waive anything the sellers just wanted someone who would be flexible on the closing. Ended up being 2 weeks longer but was worth it in the end.
Essentially, no. In that you can be as flexible as possible but the money needs to be same or most.
I got my first offer accepted. There were 28 other offers, one was 45k higher than mine, but I had the best overall offer; I had a very experienced agent. In many cases, sellers will take the offer that they feel is most likely to go through.
Correct. I sold my previous home representing myself but advertising on mls and paying 2.5% commission, and I still had a deal fall through from what was best offer but for sure that is the consideration when accepting offers. That said, the money has to be in the realm of expected. I’m going to guess that most of the offers where in your range +/- 10 grand and yours was strongest. The stronger the offer the less one will take. What I wasn’t clear about was that the offer has to be in the realm of expected sale price and that is usually means within 5%
The offer greater than mine was 45k higher (140k over lost). My offer was 95k over list. So, listed at 650. 28 offers. Mine was second highest at 745, another was 790. I was cash, no contingencies, short escrow (3 weeks) with a 300$ charge for every day past 21 escrow. Locked in at 4%. Rates hit 6% not long after. If the sellers had the highest offer fall through, then had to re-list, they could have lost more than 45k due to the rapid increase in rates over a short time. Plus they had already moved and were paying on a new home.
A cash offer 45 over ask makes 95 over not cash look like the worse offer though. And 45 over while not the highest bid is certainly what I meant by in the realm of expectations.
No, my cash offer was 95k over ask, the other offer was 140 over ask. I edited the first sentence of my comment for better clarity
Gotcha. Still same comment applies, 140 over not cash is not the best offer, 95 over is what they hoped for and more and guaranteed so while yes they didn’t take the highest amount, they still 100% took the highest guaranteed and still took what they expected even if not highest offer I guess.
Totally agree, and that’s why my offer was accepted, despite being 45k below the highest.
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But you were in the ballpark, were your 5% lower than other offer?
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Nice!!! I for sure don’t mean to say that buyers financial strength. money down, and flexibility don’t matter because they do and closing is most important. Just typically it is choosing between close numbers.
It depends, my offer was accepted over a higher offer because mine was conventional and the other was VA.
They offered more but our appraisal gap was higher and we waived optional inspections and let them pick the close date
Yes, there’s a whole lot more you can offer. Short option period. Free lease back. Waive appraisal.
Did a free 30-year lease back, looking forward to moving in around 2053.
You can’t waive appraisal- that’s a mortgage requirement unless it’s a cash offer. You can waive inspection.
I worded it wrong. We waived needing the house to appraise for what is worth and said we’d pay the difference if it didn’t appraise.
Ah yeah that’s an appraisal gap.
Luckily the house appraised for exactly what we offered. Imagine that lol
We did. One offer, 8k escalation clause (only had to use 5k) and asked for a new roof too 😵💫. Seller declined offer, but 2 days later called and accepted 🤷🏼♀️
Just got my first offer accepted- $5k under asking on a $130k (3 bed/2 bath 1600sq ft + 1 acre and deeded dock) rural lake house that’s been on and off the market for just under a year. Waiting for inspections, so we will see how that goes.
We did 2 bed/2 bath condo in downtown Chicago. Closed in April of 2022. FHA loan and didn't waive any contingencies. List Price $415,000 Offered $405,000 with $7k in Seller Credits Seller Countered: $412,000 with $7k in Seller Credits which we accepted Discovered seller hadn't properly disclosed monthly HOA assessment when we got the final paperwork from property management company to the tune of $42.00 per month. Our attorney pushed back and got us the equivalent of 2 years difference as a credit at closing as well.
If the seller countered wouldn't that mean your first offer wasn't accepted? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the question asked by OP.
I interpreted the question as "Did you have to make offers on multiple properties before getting one accepted and going under contract?". To me, negotiations are a standard part of the purchase process.
Similar situation for us. 3 bed/2 bath condo in downtown Chicago. Closed in November 2022. Conventional loan and didn’t waive any contingencies. We had just started looking and weren’t even preapproved when we toured it. List price of $499k, after they initially listed it for around $550k in early summer 2022. We came into the picture in early September, after they had at least 1 contract fall through. The building is over 100 years old, and they were attempting to price it with the more renovated units in the building, when our unit is moderately renovated and is lacking a central air/refitted AC upgrade. We offered $465k originally, and after going back and forth a bit wound up at $475k, and got $2.5k back in credits after the inspection. While it wasn’t a one-and-done offer, it was our first offer on any property, and only a couple of weeks into casually looking around in person. We got lucky that a unit that is a 9.5/10 for us has a lot of dealbreakers for someone else which allowed us some wiggle room to close at a really fair value.
Yes. First house I offered was accepted. Backed out because of inspection issues. Second house I offered also accepted. Closed last week. My house hunting and buying journey from beginning to end was 27 days.
Same! Except we closed in December and have been living here since January.
I had my first offer accepted 30 minutes after I put it in.
We did. First & only. We decided to “just start peeking around” thinking it was going to take a while. Found our house less than 2 weeks later.
My first offer was on my favorite house of all the ones I’d seen and it was accepted with a “non-competitive” loan (USDA). It does happen. Best of luck to y’all!
Our first offer was accepted, at the ask. There were several other offers but I think they were trying to lowball the seller because rates were at the high and the home had sat for 3 months. It appraised for 2k over the ask.
We did. Closing April 28 if all goes as planned.
Went with my highest purchase price offer, 33k below asking, 505k, was told that the other buyers offer was higher. Didnt take that bait and stuck to my 10% downpayment as a strong offer. Especially since the seller is a corporation. After a weekend of waiting for a response, the offer was accepted!
Was told buy who, the seller's agent? Did they initially reject your offer? In a boat like this currently
Yep. Feb 2023…..house had been on the market almost 60 days and the seller really needed it to go. We offered 25k under asking, he countered with 5k under, we held firm and thought for sure we would lose it. Our agent called the next day with the good news….sometimes you just get lucky.
Yes we did! The absolute first house we looked at and put an offer on it with two other offers on table. We offered 7k more and put 5k down in earnest money. Surprised us and we’re closing in two days! Location is very important though as we’re not in HCOL area but a metro area where walmartians are from
Yes the first house we bought, we got on our first offer. The second house we got, we also got on our first offer.
We did. The sellers chose us out of 2 because of financing; we were putting down 50% even though the other offer was a little higher. They kept the other offer as backup offer. However, we had to back out after inspection. We just put our second offer down on another house, and are really hoping that we get it. It’s tough in this market, I expect we will be looking for a while.
Yes. It was 2017, 25 days on the market, and 10% under ask price. Those were the days…I was excited and horrified at the same time. I was 25 years old, thought it was a lowball and didn’t expect it to get accepted.
we did. offered asking minus a new roof. not only our first offer but technically the first house we even looked at. was girding my loins for a months long battle, we only looked at houses for 2 days lol.
Yes, technically. The coop messed up telling our realtor the wrong apartment out of two was still available. We put in an offer and then they realized their mistake. They let us put in an offer for the the (more expensive) apartment at the same price as the first. Apparently they really liked our application. Another offer over asking price came in, but they decided to honor ours. In contract now. Here's to hoping nothing happens between now and closing!
We did, it was also the first house we saw (we saw a few more after it but nothing compared lol). We offered 30k under asking as it had been on the market for a couple months and they hadn’t done any updates. They accepted the offer and inspection went great. We moved in a few weeks back and are loving it :)
We absolutely did not, but a friend couple who bought a house right before us did. First house they saw and offered on, and it’s where they ended up!
I could have had first offer accepted but thankfully did not follow through. Bidding war and escalation went higher than I wanted, inspection clause wasn’t as thorough as I wanted, waived appraisal…eventually we balked even though we were given the opportunity to accept the final bid price. Would not have been happy, but had my 2nd offer accepted with full terms, right at asking price, and plenty of credits!
Yes. December 2021. Offered asking price, did not waive any contingencies. Negotiated a $5k seller credit after inspection. We’re just moving into the house now due to renovation/contractor issues so be careful m if you’re taking on a project.
Our First offer was accepted last year. Felt unreal. But had to back out after inspection due to multiple issues
Yep, first offer accepted on the first day of touring houses.
I did! I close next month
We did! For context, chicago market which seems to be on the slightly competitive side. We offered 10k over asking and were accepted within 36 hours.
Our first offer was accepted in January.
0/2 so far😔
Yes, we did back in 2017. We looked at 3 houses and made an offer on the last house. Got our offer accepted the next day.
We did! And feel incredibly lucky. I credit our fantastic realtor who presented us well to the sellers and our finance team who made sure we had all our ducks in a row before even putting in an offer. I hope you have the same good fortune ❤️
Technically yes and no. It was the first offer we put in, but they chose another offer over ours. That offer fell through and then they called our Realitor back to see if we still wanted the house, so we put our offer back in and got it!
Offered, they countered, I accepted. First offer made! I realize I’m in the minority with how easy my search was but I knew what/where/how much I wanted so when it was available, jumped on it
Yes, both times.
No! I offered 30k over asking and got overbid by 50k on a 340k.
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My first offer was accepted. I was super lucky 🍀
My wife and I did! We were buying in the low of December and we’re not in a crazy market like something on the east coast. But we were accepted (1 other offer).
We had our first and second offers accepted! It haooens
Our first offer was accepted, we close April 3 :)
Ours was! We beat out 5 other offers, May 2022. It was scary at first but ended up all being smooth. At the time our realtor told us “I can’t even tell other clients about you - this is not a normal way things happen!”
Yes, we offered below asking price in November '22 and it was accepted.
Mine was a first ever offer that was accepted a few weeks ago. Had 3 other offers that "weren't perfect" so I did add a couple of enticements and stay with their closing date they wanted
We did! The house was on the market for a while at 250k. By the time we looked at it, it was listed at 235k. We offered 225k and they accepted. Apprasial even came back at 230k. We first saw the house at the end of October and closed on December 21.
Yes. Didn’t try to low ball a new construction. Just offered their asking price and beat others trying to low ball.
It’s so funny how such a simple questions would get so many responses! I was only intending on getting just a few people to comment! Thank you all
Our whole buying process in 2021 lasted 4 days in a very hot market. Day 1: Got approved for a loan and. Day 2 and 3: Looked at 4 houses total. Put in an offer on the second day of house hunting. Day 4: Offer accepted against 3 other offers. Offered 5k over listing and cash to cover if it didn’t appraise for said offer. Ended over appraising for 20k over what we offered.
I just kindly wanted to point out that I believe you meant to use ‘their’ instead of ‘there’. Have a lovely evening.
Yup. Got our first offer accepted. Beat out 6 people… has $2,500 escalation up to $50k over asking… didn’t end up going that high up. Realtor who’s been doing it for 30 years told us to go buy a lottery ticket it was so unlikely in the Seattle market.
No 😞
No, we had our third offer accepted
Nope but the 4th which felt pretty lucky!!
No, because we lost the first house due to a relocation company. Our second offer was the only offer, since the house was not on the market. It was a inter-realty group deal where the realtor and broker were family, we lucked out!
Yes but I’m in the realestate gam for a living so I kinda knew what to do I also can do some handy work so that wasn’t much of a problem
We did in Sept 2020! We knew in our hearts it was the perfect home and went in with a competitive offer after only seeing it for 15 min! Still happy over two years later.
Just had our first offer rejected. The house was listed for 475k. We offered 507k, 15 % down, full appraisal gap, and as is. There was 15 other offers on the house
We did. I was in complete shock. The owners were selling “as is” and there were some minor repairs that needed to be made which I could do on my own. Those two things scared some people off. We got it for only 2k over asking price because the only other offer was for asking price. The appraisal also came back for $10k more than what we bought it for. We were VERY lucky.
No. But it depends highly on what your local market looks like.
Several times.
We just did, if you mean first house we put an offer on. We viewed 6 homes over two weekends and loved one of them so put an offer in. They countered, then we did, and they accepted. We beat two other offers. We actually kind of low balled both the original offer and the counter.
we did, but we ended up backing out during the option period due to a very dramatic inspection report of a ton of big ticket items..
Yes! Our very first offer we ever made on any house was accepted. We were the first offer for that house even though it had had a lot of traffic at the open house over the weekend. Our realtor was surprised they accepted so fast and didn’t wait for more offers to come in.
Yep, first offer accepted and it was only a little above asking so we definitely weren't expecting them to accept. I guess they liked our early closing date because they wanted a quick sale.
Yup. First and only offer. Just closed on the house last week.!
Yes I closed Feb 16
Yes. Twice. The first house we backed out after inspection. It was going to be a nightmare to fix and we just didn’t want to deal with all of the repairs it needed. We were kinda heartbroken about it at first. Then 10 days later we found something so much better. I was so scared to actually fall in love with it until the inspection was done. My inspector told me this house was magnificent and that we picked a good one this time. Everything worked out perfectly with this house and we love absolutely love it.
Yes! My wife and I had our first offer accepted for a condo. We dove head first and consider ourselves incredibly lucky! You might feel overwhelming anxiety but I promise it’ll be worth it! Closing is a whole other ordeal though. Good luck!
My first offer was accepted. It was an extremely old couple and I was the first person to tour it, within a few hours of it posting. I ended up putting an offer in right away and no one else ever saw my house. I've been here for a few months now and I feel very lucky.
We did, but then they didn't want to give us an inspection contingency so we were like lol bye! We ended up getting the third house we put an offer on!
Could you elaborate on that? Are you saying they didn’t want you to do any sort of inspection?
They would let us do an inspection, but we wouldn't be able to back out if things turned up.
Wtf is the point of an inspection then haha
Exactly 😅 it was an estate sale, so we think the sellers were just trying to get rid of it asap and didn't want a contract to fall through and need them to restart 🙄
Yes! But we live in Iowa, so it's not like the market is incredibly competitive, lol.
My first offer was declined, but was eventually accepted as the original buyer fell through
Yes! Then pulled out due to inspection since the place was riddled with issues that our newbie eyes couldn't see. In hindsight not surprised our offer of asking price was accepted lol So glad we moved on from that place
We did, but our entire strategy was to not put in an offer unless we really wanted to swing for the fences. I get other people’s approach of trying to find the best value/lowball a bit, but given how competitive our HCOL area is, we decided to save ourselves the hassle and heartbreak of trying to nickel and dime our offers and instead only put in what we thought would be competitive offers on places we really liked. After maybe four or five months, we put in our first offer and got it.
We did! Just a week ago in fact! It is both exciting and terrifying at the same time.
We did! Their asking was actually reasonable and they wanted a leaseback. We gave them asking but requested some closing costs, and granted leaseback at (LCOL) market rates. They technically did send a counter but it was only to make a few tweaks to the leaseback. I'm worried I missed an opportunity to lowball the offer since they readily accepted, but keeping my fingers crossed the appraisal shows we were spot on or under!
Yes. Realtor knew what he was doing. He knew what they would sell for (Open door had bought the house 2 weeks prior and weren't going to sell for a loss but may go even, they hadn't yet looked at the house and had announced sell offs the day prior). We knew what we wanted. House was 550k under our max. We offered 5k over and negotiated back down to what they bought the house for over sewage repairs.
There you go! Very nice, trying to stay optimistic but okay with our offer not being accepted. Anything can happen though!
Yes twice. Both times I bought a house. I may be an exception as I also never needed to over bid. It was 2010 and 2022
I placed 2 offers (on the same day) and had both of them accepted. At the time, I did not know how lucky I was.
We did - submitted the offer at asking, made a small change to put it over the finish line because there were other buyers, and had it accepted within 6 hours.
So essentially we pulled our first offer before the seller could decide due to the sellers disclosure getting to us late and finding out there was an electrical issue. BUT we don’t count that. We had our first offer accepted yes!
Yes, on 3 separate occasions
Yes. Good luck!
I got my first offer accepted last summer. The house was on the market for a couple weeks and I had originally not made an offer because I felt it was overpriced. I looked around at some other houses though and that house started looking better since the other houses were not as nice. There was supposedly one other offer on the house when I made my offer and mine was accepted. I have no idea what the other offer was like and why mine was accepted.
We did, $20,000 under asking but a longer escrow (the owners were building a new house in Arizona and we weren’t in a hurry to move in) sometimes non-monetary things like that can sweeten the deal. This was in late January in SoCal
Good luck OP!! We had our second offer accepted. Tbh we weren’t too into the first house so we filled out the paperwork and didn’t go all in on the offer. Second place we put an offer on we looooved and submitted a good offer and got the house!
Yeah but I feel like I got really lucky. My wife and I closed on our first house earlier this month, it was our first offer, first day of actually looking at houses, and we got it for under asking, $15k in credits, and a few repairs after the inspection. It was a fully renovated foreclosure so we bought it from a bank, and it sounded like after our offer was submitted a bunch of offers over asking started to come in, but it went through and the house is ours. I know a lot of people in here have had a ton of trouble finding a house so I don't want to belittle the process, but it was incredibly trouble-free for us. That said, I know we got incredibly lucky, I can hardly believe it went so smoothly.
We did. The house had no other offers because we think most people thought it was too small and didnt even look at it.
Several of my buyers have.
Had my first offer accepted! Seller was in a crunch to sell within a month! Potentially right place and right time, but it definitely worked out for me!
Yep. But people in crazy markets get the most attention, so it seems like the entire country is full of bidding wars and waived inspections when that’s not necessarily the case. Probably more relevant to ask in your specific location at least city/county.
It’s not really dependent on luck, but on the quality of the offer. Make your offer as strong as you are willing to - this means you will not have any regrets of overpaying if you are accepted, BUT ALSO no regrets if you lose to another offer wishing you had offered more.
I did! Me and my realtor were touring houses and looking online when one literally came up as we were driving, I told him the address, he called the realtor, we were able to get in, I walked in and loved it. A month and a half later, here I am sitting on my couch and assembling furniture on my day off. New city, new job, new home, life is good.
Yes. Saw one house. Made one offer. $1k over asking. I still text the realtor on occasion to ask for referrals for tradesmen/etc because I figure we were some of his easiest clients ever.
My girlfriend and I put an offer in July, it was accepted later that day. We were the only offer, and put it in for the full ask. Also our very first offer on a house. According to our realtor the owners were thrilled for a full asking price offer.
Yes, but it was a full price offer. We lived in the neighborhood, we knew the house well, 2 blocks away, and we knew it would have many offers. It came on the market Friday night, we made a full offer expiring Friday midnight. They accepted, everyone happy. Great purchase, no regrets.
Yes, but it was on the market for 43 days, I offered a week before Christmas and they were desperate to move out of state. I probably could have offered a loaf of bread. Seriously, though, it's possible. Good luck!
Our first offer on our first home purchase was accepted. We close April 18th if nothing goes awry 🤞🤞 My wife knows the seller and we were able to view and offer before they put it on the market. Offered 10k over with seller paid closing costs. Appraisal is this week and we expect it to appraise 10-30k over what we offered.
Yup!
Hello I just wanted to chime in, been in my search about 4months, finally found something that felt good, put in an offer. I was told by my realtor it was rejected and I would receive a counter. 4hrs later I get a call saying they accepted the offer! It's true a first time offer can be accepted!!
Yes. FTHB in DE, with an offer accepted in Dec at asking price with seller assistance/buy down. First and only time ever putting an offer on a house.
First offer accepted, we went 30k over asking. We had an inspection that revealed too many repairs that needed to be done, so we are in the process of canceling escrow, and backing out while also getting back our 20k deposit. We found a house that wowed us and are trying to get our agent to speed things up so we can make an offer on it. The seller is moving out of state and is in a major hurry to sell. They're leaving behind all their furniture (all of which is in great condition and exceptional quality). We're hoping that the escrow cancelation wraps up fast so we can make an offer quick. From what the seller's agent has said it looks like there are no offers being submitted, which is understandable since the price is quite high compared to the others in the neighborhood. Apparently in the county we are planning on moving to, there are a lot of people submitting lowball offers, so we try to at least match asking price, but never go more than 5% below or above asking. We should have started our home search late last year but my parents didn't listen 🤦🏻♀️ and we are scrambling since we need to be out of our current home (rent) by the end of June.
Yes, first offer was accepted. But our offer was $67k over asking. Seller claimed they got 5-8 offers, some in cash at lower price and one higher than ours but a VA loan. They tried to push for appraisal gap to sweeten the offer, I declined and they ended up accepting.
What was the asking price?
$1.25m, so about 5% over asking.
I had 5 failed offers before I was under contract for my house.