Why the Seller Didn’t Take Your Purchase Offer

Don’t give sellers a reason to reject your purchase offer. Not in a seller’s market like our present real estate market in Sacramento. Don’t give them one little reason. The thing that buyers don’t realize is when a listing agent is reviewing offers with the sellers, they are probably looking for a reason to reject. They are not looking for a reason to accept. That’s because most homes right now are attracting multiple buyers.

If you’re buying a home in Sacramento, you want to make your offer stand out but not in a bad way. You don’t want your purchase offer to be the only offer, for example, that asks the seller to give you the refrigerator. A smart buyer makes no demands on a seller. A smart buyer makes the offer easy for the seller to accept. This is not the time to ask the seller to pay for a home warranty or to demand that the seller in a Sacramento short sale, for instance, not send any other offers to the bank.

Realize that a Sacramento home buyer is not in a position to make demands today. Don’t stand out like a sore thumb.

For one thing, I don’t know of a single Sacramento short sale agent who would send more than one offer to the bank. It’s just not protocol. The only reason to ever do that is if the initial offer is too low. As long as a buyer’s offer is sufficient and would be acceptable to the short sale bank, only a short sale agent with sadistic tendencies would advise a seller to send more than one offer to the bank. It’s unwise to insert any clause apart from the norm that would make your purchase offer stand out in a negative way.

I promise you that if you offend the seller, your offer won’t stand a chance in a blue moon. If you’re not getting offers accepted, there might be a burr wedged in your offer somewhere.