Top Five Reasons Your Home Offer Was Rejected

Published on: Nov 30, 2016 09:12:02

If you made an offer on a home and it was rejected, here are the most common reasons why.

You are looking in the wrong market. If you have a home loan approved for $400,000, look in the $350,000 range - the associated costs can run you over budget, fast. Don't look at $650,000 homes and think you can wrangle the price down.

You didn't contact the listing agent. Many buyers don't want to entertain offers that don't come via an agent. You might find one, but then the paperwork may not be properly filled out and the sale could be called into question. Always use an agent to buy a home. Beware FSBO situations as well.

You failed to introduce yourself at an Open House and someone else got the ears of the agent and owner. Make sure you introduce yourself, make yourself memorable, and send a small gift after the open house to foster a relationship. A cold offer from someone they don't remember is more likely to be turned down than an offer from the people who sent the fruit basket or bottle of wine. That said, do not come off as desperate.

You've submitted a poorly written or badly organized offer. Your agent can prepare a professional looking printable PDF file that can be sent which will contain all the documents and which can again be customized to be memorable. Make the listing agent's job difficult by sending a mish mosh of emails, and you'll be bumped to the bottom of their list. Your offer also culd be simply too low!

Your offer is riddled with contingencies. It's better to offer a lower price and state what you will have to do to the home after on your own dime than to pay a higher price and list a bunch of contingencies. The buyer doesn't want to have to spend money on the house before selling. Of course, make sure the big things are inspected and checked off the list, but plan on doing things like having a tree removed from the property or the gutters replaced yourself.