July 24, 2026
The best offer is not always the highest one
Price is one line on the scorecard. Financing strength, contingencies, timing, and credits are the others, and they decide whether the number survives escrow.
Every seller wants to hear the biggest number. My job is to make sure the biggest number is actually the best deal, and often it isn’t. A clean, fast, certain offer at $1.45M frequently beats a contingent, slow, brittle offer at $1.50M, because the second one carries exit doors the first one doesn’t. The way to see this clearly is to read every offer on the same scorecard.
The scorecard
Price is the headline, and the easiest line to compare. The others decide whether the headline survives:
Financing strength. All cash closes in as little as two weeks with no appraisal risk and no underwriting risk. A pre-underwritten conventional buyer, whose income and assets an actual underwriter has already reviewed, is nearly as strong. A pre-qualified buyer is a phone call wearing a letter.
Down payment. More down means less appraisal risk: if the appraisal comes in light, a 40 percent-down buyer has room to absorb it; a 5 percent-down buyer doesn’t.
Contingencies. Inspection, loan, and appraisal contingencies are the buyer’s exit doors, each with a typical 17-day window. Fewer and shorter doors mean a more certain deal. Strong buyers shorten or waive them; the strongest include an appraisal gap commitment in writing.
Timeline. Twenty-one days is fast, thirty is normal, forty-five or more is a signal worth investigating.
Credits and concessions. A high price with a large closing-cost credit is a lower price in costume. We do the subtraction before we compare.
Rent-back. If you need time after closing, an offer that gives it to you cheerfully can be worth real money against one that doesn’t.
Multiples, handled soberly
When several offers land, there are known plays: best-and-final to all qualified buyers, a counter to everyone at improved terms, or a counter to the top one or two when they’ve separated from the pack. And always, always backup offers in writing, because deals fall through and a signed backup keeps your leverage intact when one does.
One more thing you should know about how I run this: I don’t pass buyer “love letters” to my sellers. They create genuine fair-housing risk by surfacing protected characteristics that we are legally not allowed to weigh. I read the contract. I don’t read the letter.
Why this discipline pays
Sellers who chase the headline number and lose the deal in week three re-list into a market that knows their home fell out of escrow, and the second-best offer from round one is rarely still standing there. Sellers who pick the strongest complete offer close on schedule and keep every bit of their leverage. The pattern reveals itself fast when the offers sit on one sheet, scored the same way.
The full offer chapters, including the contingency details, are in Your Path to Sold. If offers are already on your mind, bring them to a sit-down and we’ll score them together.