Choosing between offers when the highest is not the best

These are listed in the order worth acting on, which with comparing offers is not the order they are usually presented in.

Price times probability

A higher offer that completes eighty per cent of the time can be worth less than a lower offer that completes almost certainly. The cost of failure is not only the fees but the weeks of marketing time, during which the listing acquires a history. Property that has been under offer and returned to the market attracts lower offers, because buyers infer a problem.

Comparing offers therefore means comparing risk, and risk is knowable if you ask.

What to ask about every buyer

Do they have a property to sell, has it sold, has it exchanged, and how long is the chain behind them. What is the source of their funds, and have they an agreed decision in principle or a full mortgage offer.

Which conveyancer are they using and have they already instructed them. Agents in many jurisdictions are obliged to verify a buyer position, and asking for that verification in writing is normal.

Cash is a term that gets stretched

A genuine cash buyer has the money in an account now; a buyer who will have cash once their own sale completes is in a chain. The distinction is routinely blurred in offer letters and is worth resolving explicitly.

Put simply, evidence of funds is a reasonable request and a buyer who is genuinely cash will produce it quickly. A cash buyer who cannot evidence funds is either not cash or not organised, and both matter.

Terms other than price

Completion date flexibility, a willingness to wait for your onward purchase, and agreeing to buy fittings can all be worth real money. A buyer who will accept a delayed completion may be more valuable than one offering slightly more with a fixed early date. Conditions attached to an offer — sale of another property, a specific survey outcome, planning consent — reduce its value.

Put simply, write the terms down alongside the price so the comparison is like for like.

Motive tells you about persistence

A buyer purchasing a first home, relocating for work with a deadline, or moving for schools has a reason to persist through problems. A speculative buyer, or one who has offered on several properties, has less attachment and withdraws more easily.

The useful part is this: none of this is decisive, and it improves the estimate of probability, which is the number you are missing. The agent has usually formed a view and will share it if asked directly.

If that does not fit your week, it is not a failure of willpower.

After acceptance

Whether to keep marketing depends on local convention and on whether anything binds the parties before a later formal step. Setting an expected timetable at acceptance, in writing, gives you a legitimate reason to review if it slips badly. Regular contact through the agent keeps a slow buyer moving and identifies a stalled one early.

If the sale collapses, ask exactly why, since the reason determines whether the next buyer will hit the same problem.

Everything above, in order of what to do first

1. Price times probability. A higher offer that completes eighty per cent of the time can be worth less than a lower offer that completes almost certainly.
2. What to ask about every buyer. Do they have a property to sell, has it sold, has it exchanged, and how long is the chain behind them.
3. Cash is a term that gets stretched. A genuine cash buyer has the money in an account now; a buyer who will have cash once their own sale completes is in a chain.
4. Terms other than price. Completion date flexibility, a willingness to wait for your onward purchase, and agreeing to buy fittings can all be worth real money.
5. Motive tells you about persistence. A buyer purchasing a first home, relocating for work with a deadline, or moving for schools has a reason to persist through problems.
6. After acceptance. Whether to keep marketing depends on local convention and on whether anything binds the parties before a later formal step.

The takeaway

Ask every buyer the same four questions, then compare price against the likelihood of ever seeing it.

The version you keep doing is the version that works.