First-Time Home Seller: What Happens If You Get Multiple Offers?

What happens when you get multiple offers on your home, and how do you choose? A $40,000-over-asking offer isn't automatically better than one that's $30,000 over. There's more to weigh than price alone.

Hi, I'm Tanja Odzak, Realtor with eXp Realty, helping people sell and buy homes right here in the East Bay for the last 10 years.

Closing date matters, does it match your timeline, or leave you without a place to stay while your next home closes? Financing type matters too, cash versus a loan, and different loan types carry different appraisal requirements. A buyer might be locked into a repair or replacement their lender requires, or their financing could fall through entirely if the appraisal comes in short, unless they've offered to cover that gap with additional cash.

Inspection contingencies are another real factor. Most buyers want one for their own protection, but in a hot market, some waive it entirely. If you're weighing a $40,000-over-asking offer with an inspection contingency against a $30,000-over-asking offer with none, that's a real trade-off, an inspection could surface issues that reopen negotiations, or worse, cause the buyer to walk entirely.

I'm Tanja Odzak, and I've sold over $100 million worth of homes with a decade of experience in the East Bay. An experienced agent combing through the fine print of multiple offers is what keeps you from picking on price alone and running into costly surprises later.