Selling your house may leave you feeling vulnerable. Not only is your house a huge financial asset, but you have strangers peering in your closets, appraisers judging your home's value and inspectors noting its flaws. A low offer in the midst of all of this can seem like a personal affront. However, no matter how well you have prepared your house or how certain you are that it's priced correctly; receiving a low offer is a possibility. Prepare yourself ahead of time to not take it personally. Instead of getting angry, do one of two things: Reject the offer, or counter it and move on.
If you do decide to counter the offer, try to get as much information as you can about why the offer came in at the price it did. Take a good look at the condition of your property. How does it REALLY look? It is amazing how quickly a buyer will undervalue your home based on outdated carpet, tile, light fixtures, bathrooms and kitchens. Remember that cost and value are not synonymous. If you have over personalized your home you might love it but a buyer might be looking how much it will cost to undo all of the paint and wallpaper.
If your home has been on the market for some time and you have not re-evaluated your price then the offer may be closer than you think. Have your agent take a good look at the most recent comparable properties and see if there have been similar properties that have sold at a lower price. You may be surprised to learn that the home one street over may have sold recently at significantly less than you think. When this happens it has an immediate impact of the value of your home.
Look at all of the contingencies in the contract. Make sure that you are considering all of the factors in the offer. Don't focus just on price. Make sure that you examine all of the other portions of the contract as well. Sometimes price is not the only factor that makes a contract worth considering.
If you decide that you just can't live with what is on the table then by all means move on. Make sure you and your agent understand your reasons for refusing the offer so that there are no lingering issues when the next offer arrives.
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