The highest price isn't automatically the strongest offer. Two offers can name the same number and carry completely different levels of certainty.
Review offers with your real estate professional and, where appropriate, your lawyer or notary. What follows is what to weigh, not legal advice.
Start with the amount being offered. Then keep reading, because everything below can be worth more or less than the gap between two offers.
An offer may be conditional on things such as:
Fewer conditions can mean more certainty, but conditions should be evaluated rather than treated as automatically bad. A well-financed buyer with a short inspection condition may be a far safer bet than an unconditional offer from someone who has not spoken to a lender.
A deposit is evidence of commitment, and it can carry legal significance depending on the transaction. Its size relative to the price is usually more telling than the number itself.
A slightly lower offer that closes exactly when you need it can be worth more than a higher one that leaves you carrying two properties or renting for two months.
What would each offer leave you with? Estimate your net proceeds at different prices and closing scenarios, after commission, legal fees and mortgage payout. Estimate my net proceeds
Make sure everyone agrees on what stays with the property. Appliances, fixtures and window coverings are where this goes wrong most often.
In the end you are evaluating more than price:
How much am I receiving, under what conditions, on what timeline — and how confident am I that this transaction will actually close?
That is why offers are best compared side by side on every term, rather than ranked by the headline number.
Communities.ca Inc.
Stuart Hall, REALTOR® · Licence #LIC-00651009 · Century 21 Bravo
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