This Offer is good until...

In an Offer to Purchase, a buyer outlines not only how much he will pay, but also the deadlines by which he’ll get the process completed. The first date on the Offer is the deadline for the offer itself.

A reader named Mike wrote me about Offer deadlines. He lost to another buyer because he left his Offer on the table too long. He thought he was being respectful to an elderly seller when, instead, he was allowing time for another bidder to juggle their assets and come up with a better offer. He’ll never do that again.

Where is the line between being considerate and being taken? How long is too long? How short is too short?

In residential real estate, being pushy frequently gets you less than being likeable does. Sellers and buyers are more likely to compromise with someone they like. Homes are big business, but they are also personal.

An offer that doesn’t give the seller a chance to sleep on it is way too short. If you use this tactic, you need to know that you are being pushy. I only use this tactic when my buyers want to make a powerful statement. Generally, less than 24 hours is too short.

What’s too long? Any agent worth their commission is trying to get the best deal for his or her clients. That means a good listing agent will call everyone who ever expressed the slightest interest in this home to say, “I have an offer in hand at Smith Street; if you clients are interested, now’s the time.” (I get several of these calls a week, during the busy season.) Therefore, anything beyond two days is way too long, unless the seller is hard to reach for some reason, or you are negotiating with a lender, or a lawyer for an estate or group of sellers.

The most powerful tool a buyer has is the strength to walk away. Your Offer should say to the seller, “I am a fair-minded person, but you must take my offer seriously or I will go somewhere else with my money.”