Great job! You presented your home in great fashion and priced it correctly, so now you have multiple offers on your home. But how do you decide which contract to ratify? Obviously, price is a major factor, but it’s not the only factor you should consider. Financing, contingencies, rent backs, settlement dates and conveyances are other items you need to consider before deciding on which offer to work with.
Your Real Estate Agent will guide you through negotiating the best terms and conditions possible. At JS Realty we use a spreadsheet that lists all the important, negotiable components of the offers side-by-side to make it easier to compare offers. Start with your highest offer and work your way through the other elements of the contract. This is the time you have the most leverage in your negotiations, so use it wisely!
Following is a list of the other components of the contract that you should review closely with your Real Estate Agent:
Buyer’s Financing – is the offer a conventional loan or is it a government backed 
loan such as an FHA or VA? Conventional loans tend to have less stringent home inspection and appraisal requirements.
Home Inspection Contingency – if an offer has no home inspection or if the home inspection is for informational purposes only, that could save you (the Seller) money on repair costs.
Settlement Date – if you would benefit from a rent-back now is the time to put 
that in place. Sometimes we are able to negotiate a free rent back in multiple offer scenarios, which gives you the freedom to make your move easier and less stressful.
Appraisal Contingency – this can be the hardest contingency to get waived, but in some multiple contract situations we have been successful in getting the appraisal contingency waived.
Contingency Timelines – you will want to shorten the timelines for home 
inspections and any other inspections to as short as possible. The job of your Real Estate Agent is to get all of the contingencies in the contract released as soon as possible. Appraisal & financing contingencies are difficult to shorten too much, because you are relying on 3rd parties to do their job, so therefore you have less control.
Down Payment – how much a buyer is putting down for down payment and 
earnest money deposit also plays a part in your decision for which contract to choose. The more money a buyer has invested in the transaction, the more committed they are.
Remember: this is when you hold the most leverage of any time during your transaction, so make it work for you!
Feel free to reach out to the JS Realty Team with any questions about multiple contracts or any other Real Estate related questions!
The JS Realty Team – not only serving Brambleton, serving all of Northern Virginia.
