Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers? - UPDATE at bottom

We received an offer on our house today. We knew it was coming because the buyer's realtor had given our realtor a heads-up on Sunday. So the offer comes through today at noon. We want to counter as it's a strong buyer and they're close to the number we ultimately want.

We've been trying to get a hold of our realtor since around 1:00 but he hasn't responded to us yet. Knowing his schedule, he probably will call us around 7pm tonight and we'll tell him we want to counter, but a counter offer wont actually go out until tomorrow late morning when he gets back to his office.

DH feels like that's fine and we don't need to rush to respond to them, but having been on the other side of this process I know how anxious they must be. I feel like we should be responding in a more timely manner.

What id the norm? If you've sold or are selling your house, how quickly did you respond to offers?

Message edited 4/14/2015 11:05:45 AM.

Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

When we made our offer the sellers accepted and the real estate agent let us know all in the span of about 3 hours. I was shocked it was so fast there were no counters or negotiation though.

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

Your realtor can call with the counter tonight at 7. Not sure why he needs to be in his office to counter?

Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

Ours all happened at like 9pm at night. We offered around 7pm, had a counter from seller, countered back to them and a verbal acceptance all by 930 pm I believe. No one needs to be in their office.

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

Thank you for your responses! Our realtor just called and let us know that all counter offers are made verbally...I didn't realize that and thought they had to be formal written counter offers like their initial offer. Since it's all verbal, I'm hoping it goes fast today!!

Please send house dust our way!!! They're only about $7K away from the number we want to sell for (and they happen to be a lovely newly married couple that we would really be thrilled to sell our home to)!!

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

Good luck! But yes - while the initial offer should be in writing with a preapproval, there's no hard and fast "rule" on that, either. As a listing agent, I would always want everything in writing and a verified preapproval from buyers before I let me sellers accept an offer, but often agents will make a verbal offer to kick off negotiations (and send the paperwork to follow).

Certainly, counter offers are often conveyed via a quick phone call or even text.

It's nice of you to put yourself in the buyers' shoes and be cognizant of their anxiety. I think a big key to a successful negotiation, and ultimately a successful deal, is to be able to put yourself in the other person's shoes, while advocating for your own interests.

In your case, it sounds like the counter will go back quickly. As a realtor, I think communication is key. It's not always possible to respond immediately, but when I am the listing agent, I always try to let the other agent (if there is one) or party that I am negotiating with know what is going on and when they can expect a response. Sometimes, I have sellers where one half of the couple is working late and they want to discuss and sleep in it, so I'll say "they will discuss the offer tonight and I'll get back to you tomorrow." Sometimes people are unreachable because of travel and that type of thing -- as long as communication is there throughout the process, it's usually fine. People just get stressed or resentful when there's silence and they don't know what's going on.

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

If the initial offer is already close to your "number", your realtor would be pretty dumb to let this one drag out. Counters can be made verbally or by email/text.

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers?

Thanks everyone for the responses!

The buyers countered back, we countered again, and we finally heard this morning that they accepted our final counter offer!!!! We're thrilled with the price we got and they have a very strong down payment and pre-approval so we're hopeful that things will go smoothly.

I have to say, I wasn't prepared for the wave of emotions I have once we settled on a price. We haven't found a house yet, so we'll be moving in with family until we do find something. It's so exciting to be selling our house, but it's very bittersweet considering it was our first home together and we don't have a new home to look forward to yet. And the idea of packing up everything and moving it out is just overwhelming!!!! We have SO much stuff I just don't even know where to start!

Re: Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers? - UPDATE at bottom

congrats! that is very excited. I find moving overwhelming but look at it as an opportunity to purge all of the stuff that you really don't need and then you can start fresh in your new home.

good luck on your home search.

Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers? - UPDATE at bottom

Congratulations!! Time to purge while packing!

Selling: how quickly did you respond to offers? - UPDATE at bottom

Think of how overwhelming it would be to sell and buy at the same time. We moved in with family between selling our co-op and buying our house. One at a time is stressful enough, I can't imagine doing both at the same time. Plus you can take you time looking for your new home, no need to rush and settle.
Congratulations and best of luck to you!