Here is what actually happens to your offer after you hit send.
It lands in the listing agent's inbox next to four others. Nobody reads your heartfelt letter first. They open a spreadsheet and line up price, deposit, loan type, contingency periods and close date. Then they call the seller and say which one is least likely to fall apart.
That is the whole thing. Sellers do not pick the highest offer. They pick the one they believe will close.
Which means a higher offer with a shaky lender and thirty days of contingencies loses to a cleaner one underneath it. Certainty is a currency and most buyers never spend it.
So I call the listing agent before I submit. Two minutes on the phone tells me what the seller genuinely cares about, and it is almost never only the money.
Ask your agent what the seller cares about most. If they cannot answer, that tells you something too.
The short version
- Nobody reads your letter first.
- They open a spreadsheet.
- Price, and how it is financed.
- Deposit size and contingency periods.
- Close date, and who the lender is.
- Every column is a question about risk.
- Certainty is a currency, and most buyers never spend it.
Talk it through with Kini
Kini will run it with you on your real budget, anywhere in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside or San Bernardino County. No charge and no pitch.
Book a consultation or call or text (323) 320-1725. See this month's numbers for your county.