When your buyer keeps losing offers, it can get frustrating for everyone involved. They find a home they like, put together an offer, wait for an answer, and then find out the seller chose someone else.
After that happens a few times, don’t be surprised if your buyer starts asking what they’re doing wrong or whether they’ll ever get a home.
As their agent, you can’t guarantee that an offer will be accepted. What you can do is look at what happened, talk through what you know, and help them decide how they want to approach the next one.
Start With What You Know
When an offer isn’t accepted, your buyer will probably want to know why. Sometimes you’ll get useful information from the listing agent. Other times, you won’t know much beyond the fact that the seller chose another offer.
Don’t fill in the blanks yourself.
If the listing agent is willing and able to provide feedback, listen to what they can share. There may have been a difference in price, terms, financing, timing, or something else that mattered to the seller.
If you don’t know why the seller went another direction, tell your buyer that. It’s better than guessing about another buyer’s offer.
Look at the Offer Again
Before moving on to the next property, go back through the offer with your buyer and your broker when appropriate.
Was the buyer comfortable with the price they offered? Were there terms that were especially important to them? Was there anything they wouldn’t have wanted to change even if it meant having a better chance of getting the property?
That conversation matters because winning the house isn’t the only goal. Your buyer still needs to be comfortable with the offer they’re making.
You don’t want someone agreeing to terms they aren’t comfortable with just because they’re tired of hearing no.
Talk About the Market You’re Actually Seeing
After losing a few offers, you may start seeing a pattern.
Maybe homes in a certain price range are moving quickly. Perhaps properties in one neighborhood are getting more attention than similar homes a few miles away. You may also notice that the homes your buyer likes tend to attract a lot of interest as soon as they’re listed.
Talk about what you’re seeing.
You can pull recent sales, look at listing activity, and compare what has been happening with similar properties. That gives you something useful to discuss instead of simply telling the buyer that the market is “competitive.”
Ask What They’re Willing to Change
After a few unsuccessful offers, it’s worth checking in with the buyer before continuing exactly the same way.
Ask something like, “Do you want to keep looking for the same type of home, or are there a few things you’d be willing to change?”
They may decide to look in another neighborhood, consider homes that have been on the market a little longer, adjust their price range after speaking with their lender, or become more flexible about some of the features they originally wanted.
They may also decide they don’t want to change anything. That’s useful to know too.
Don’t Let Frustration Write the Next Offer
A buyer who has already lost several homes may be tempted to do whatever it takes on the next one.
That’s when you need to slow the conversation down.
If they’re considering changing the price or terms of their offer, make sure they understand what they’re agreeing to. Review the contract, involve your broker when you need guidance, and send financing questions back to the lender.
The disappointment from the last property shouldn’t be the reason they make a decision they’ll regret on the next one.
Keep Looking Beyond the Newest Listings
Buyers naturally pay attention to homes that just came on the market, but don’t forget about properties that have been sitting for a little while.
Go back through the MLS and see what’s still available. A home the buyer passed over two weeks ago may deserve another look. A property may have had a price change, updated photos, or simply been overlooked the first time around.
You can also broaden the search a little if the buyer is open to it.
Sometimes finding the right home comes from looking at options that weren’t at the top of the list when the search started.
Keep the Buyer Involved
After several rejected offers, it’s easy for a buyer to feel like the whole process is out of their hands. Keep talking with them.
Before writing another offer, ask what they’re comfortable with and what matters most to them. If there are several decisions to make, walk through them instead of assuming they want to handle the next offer differently because the previous one wasn’t accepted.
Your job isn’t to pressure them into making the strongest offer at any cost. It’s to help them understand their choices so they can decide what makes sense for them.
Learn From Every Offer You Write
Every offer gives you a little more experience, even when it isn’t accepted.
Go back over the transaction with your broker. Ask what they noticed and whether there was anything you could have handled differently. Talk with other experienced agents and listen to how they’ve dealt with similar situations.
Continuing your education can help here too. Classes give you another opportunity to learn about contracts, negotiations, financing, the market, and the situations that come up when you’re working with actual buyers.
At LEAP Real Estate Academy in Orlando, you’ll learn from instructors who can bring their own real estate experience into the classroom. Hearing how they’ve handled difficult transactions, buyer questions, and changing market conditions can give you ideas you can use when you’re working with your own clients.
You won’t win every offer you write. No agent does. But each one gives you another chance to learn more about your buyer, the market, and how to handle the next opportunity when it comes along.
Continue your real estate education with LEAP and keep building the skills you’ll use with buyers every day.
