Tulsa Home Sellers – Pick your battles when you counter an offer
When you counter an offer on your Tulsa home for sale, you are not guaranteed a counter back – please keep this in mind, and pick your battles when you counter an offer.
Although rare, there have been three times in my real estate career that the Buyer chose NOT to counter back. The most memorable incident was when Mike and Gabbi asked for the electric overhead garage door opener to be repaired. The Seller said that an electric door opener never existed – although we could clearly see the tracks and beams – AND there were no external handles on the garage doors to open them manually. Long story short, my Buyers were insulted at the Seller’s dishonesty and within half a day had picked out another house upon which to make an offer. The Seller of our original offer refused to spend $100 on an electronic garage door opener, and his house sat on the market multiple additional months. It worked out well for Mike and Gabbi in the long run.
Next counter that comes to mind was bled all over. The Seller countered on the sales price, closing costs, closing date, repair cap, amount he would pay towards home warranty and more. He changed almost every aspect of our offer. That irritated my Buyer as well, and he decided to return to another property we had viewed earlier and wound up making an offer on it instead.
We normally expect a counter. But please choose your battles, because when you DO counter, you open a window of opportunity for the Buyer to move on to a different and better property. If you MUST counter, consider countering on sales price alone – not sales price and closing costs. If you need to reduce the repair cap in the counter, that’s okay, but don’t nix the home warranty also.
And in the 3rd instance I want to share, my Buyers continued to surf the internet while waiting for our counter. A property that they loved had gone under contract and suddenly appeared back on the market. After receiving our counter, we were free to pursue another option, and we did so. We put an offer on the home that had come back on the market.
The rule of thumb is that the first offer you receive will be your best one. As days on market increase, your offers will become less attractive. So, don’t scoff at your first offer – and you might consider accepting it in its original form. Or if you must counter, choose your battles carefully.
