Why Aren’t My Offers Being Accepted?

If you have been making offers on homes and keep getting them rejected there may be a number of reasons why.

It is true that many sellers are desperate to sell their homes right now, however many have already been in contract with other buyers already who have fallen out for one reason or another making them extremely cautious about tying up their homes unless they believe you are a very strong buyer.

If you have been placing offers on short sales or bank owned properties you may be getting turned down simply because the paperwork is not being submitted exactly the way the lender wants it. They are very particular and over the last few years have been notorious for choosing lower priced offers over higher ones simply because they were submitted the way they wanted. So before you make another offer on one of these types of properties make sure that you have an experienced real estate professional helping you to submit your offer and negotiate with the bank.

Your closing date could be another issue that is preventing your offers from being accepted. It could either be too far away or too soon. If you are making offers on bank owned REOs or short sales you may need to make your closing date at least several months away to give their extremely busy staff to process everything. On the other hand home owners desperate to sell their homes out of fear of foreclosure may have to sell very quickly to avoid more late fees or losing the property all together.

Of course price can always be an issue. Though if you are getting no answer or counter offer at all after making an offer this could well be the reason. Trying to get the best deal possible is certainly wise however if you are low balling by too much you may simply be offending the seller.

Down payment and deposits can also be a concern for sellers today. They know that getting financing is more difficult than it has been in the past and are wary of buyers trying to obtain high LTV financing. Try making your offers stronger by making a larger deposit.

Another way to encourage a seller to accept your offer even if it isn’t exactly all they were looking for is to include a clause that will allow them to continue to market the property for sale and be able to take back up offers so that if yours falls through for some reason they haven’t lost any time.