Expeditious Offers in Real Estate: How & Why

Adam Garrett
Aug 7, 2023
7 min read

Updated: Aug 1

In this article, I wanted to share some important elements of expeditious offers to buyers, a critical tool in a buyer's belt for getting under contract on the best house for them available when they're looking.

In order to reduce the time between when you see a property and when you make an offer, it's a good idea to at least start reviewing some items & have some things ready before showings, with the most important items in bold:

Importance of Expeditious Offers

Even if you complete a showing quickly after it hits the market, that won't mean that you'll be able to get a home or other real estate if your expeditious showing isn't accompanied by an expeditious offer. Even with an expeditious showing and an expeditious offer, there's no guarantee you'll win an offer, but the start of a successful offer is both in an expeditious showing and an expeditious offer. Making an expeditious offer means you'll be more likely to win in a competing offer scenario or prevent a competing offer scenario.

Examples of Adam's Expeditious Offers

While some buyers and some agents are better than others with expeditious offers, here are a few examples of how my expeditious offers with buyers helped them win:

Showing performed, offer made & accepted within 12 hours of hitting the market as active: A buyer & I saw a property within a few hours of it hitting the market. The buyer had previously shared most of their general offer preferences with me before it went on the market so only minor tweaks were necessary for their preferences for this specific property. We submitted the offer by 2 PM the day it hit the market as active, with a deadline for 8 AM the next morning. The listing agent asked me a question after submission which I answered in detail. At 9:38 PM, they sent us back a ratified contract. I don't know if it ever hit sites like Zillow before it went under contract. I've seen that process take days in some cases. The buyer loved the home and closed on it after the home inspection.
Contract ratified with my buyer before a better offer came in: A buyer using an FHA loan & requesting closing cost assistance saw a property with me the day after it was listed along with some other properties. We made an offer that day, and got it under contract by the next morning. Soon after, still within a week of when it was listed, another cash buyer made an offer that was better, but the seller was locked into the agreement as long as the buyer didn't request concessions that the seller refused during a time when the seller had the right to walk. My buyer closed on the home.

Expeditious Offers Without Doing Your Homework Increases Probability of Buyer's Remorse

Most buyers don't do enough homework during the purchasing process, which is critical in order for buyer's unique preferences to be reflected in their purchase, no matter how much or how little homework their agent does for them (though greatly assisted by agents who do their homework & guide buyers in what & where to research).

If you request a showing, but don't do your homework first or after, it drastically increases the probability that it will be somewhat of a waste of your time to see it. Some buyers will look at the front of a home and the neighborhood and not even want to walk into the home because they never looked at the area online prior to requesting the showing. Likewise, if you make an offer expeditiously, but you never did your homework, it drastically increases the probability that you'll want to get out of the contract during the inspection contingency period(s) when you find out things about the property after the fact. It also increases the probability that you'll want out of the contract at the time of the walk through inspection or after you close.

For instance, I've had another experienced agent fill in for me for a video showing for a buyer I represented who was slow on the draw for a showing request by a few days (with no agents I know of pointing out more negatives than I do). Then the buyers never actually took the time to fully watch the video I sent them from the day of the inspection, preferring to make a quick decision. They also didn't take the time to read the full home inspection for themselves. When they showed up to the walk through inspection, they literally cried.

Adam's Buyer Feedback

Complex offer situations often require more time, and there are some cases where a buyer can apply too heavy of pressure on an agent in one of those situations, where that pressure can increase the probability of agent error in territory that the agent may or may not be very familiar with. For instance, with an offer that involves an assumption, it will typically take some extra time, but that extra time can be absolutely worth it. Conversely, if you were to initially make an offer with a typical mortgage, then try to change it to an assumption after you've made the offer (especially after contract ratification), the seller may be very reluctant to shift, even if they initially were fine with the prospect of an assumption.

Lack of Advanced Preparation for Offers That Slow Offer Process Down is Too Common

It's not uncommon for buyers to fumble around with their first offer, in some cases self-sabotaging their favorite home that they've seen in months, but by taking some advanced steps, you can be ahead of the game and increase your chances of winning the best home for you when you finally know it's "the one" while also decreasing the chances that you'll have buyer's remorse after purchase.

Know what you need to buy a house.

Have a good understanding about what you need to buy a house & have it all ready prior to showings.

Acquire preapproval/proof of funds & always have 1 available from the past 30 days.

Have a preapproval/proof of funds from the past 30 days available at all times throughout the home search process, especially if working with a 9-5 lender or a financial institution where proof of funds for down payment & other costs (especially if purchasing in cash) isn't able to be acquired within 5 minutes online. The more recent, the better, but many lenders are able to provide this information quickly, so if working with a fast lender, it's typically not necessary to have this information updated more than once every 30 days.

Sign a buyer brokerage agreement before your 1st showing.

Have a buyer brokerage agreement (exclusive or non-exclusive) going with your agent prior to seeing properties, ideally before 1's in mind since buyer brokerage paperwork takes time, and that time could mean the difference between getting an offer in and not, especially if you weren't initially fast on the draw with a showing request and there's already offer activity at the time that you request one.

Review & Sign Disclosures.

Sign/see/ask questions about any required disclosures as long as you are comfortable with those disclosures (i.e. some agents lock you into working with 1 lender, in which case I would suggest not considering using that agent).

Go through Adam's master spreadsheet of prospective home purchase considerations.

Go through Adam's master spreadsheet of prospective home purchase considerations, weeding out those columns that don't matter or don't apply to you and shifting to the left those columns that matter to you most, so that when you see a property, you'll be doing so much more informed than most buyers.

See my articles on Preparing for Showings & below & above asking price offers.

See my article on Preparing for Showings & take action based on it. Read Adam's advice about below & above asking price offers.

Go through Adam's buyer's guide at least through the time of offer.

Go through Adam's buyer's guide at least through the time of offer, so that again, you'll be in a much more informed position than most buyers and not be as stressed about a decision that may need to occur quickly, especially if other offers are on the table and there is a deadline <24 hrs after you see a property.

Go through Adam's competing offer scenario spreadsheet.

Go through Adam's competing offer scenario spreadsheet so that you can be ready about what you might be up against & what if any of your offer elements will be weak that you will need to overcome.

Review & partially fill in Adam's questions for offer spreadsheet.

If you sign a buyer brokerage agreement with me, I can send you my offer spreadsheet that goes over dozens of your preferences in an offer, citing locations, advice, and resources to help inform your decisions.

A. Have and go over Adam's questions for offer spreadsheet and ask any questions of Adam about it prior to showings. B. Fill out the elements of it for those items that will remain the same no matter what property you choose.

Considering Macro-Level Offer Timing

While there are many other factors than just looking at market and interest rates, it's generally best to be picky if the market is going down in price &/or the interest rates are projected to go down, while it's best to be expeditious if rates (if you're using a mortgage) and prices are projected to go up.