How I Wrote an Offer in 2016 vs How I’d Write the Offer in 2025

I bought my first house in 2016- when I write that it doesn’t seem like that long ago, but market wise, it’s a lifetime away.  Way back then it wasn’t uncommon for buyers to ask for seller concessions at closings, repair requests to come back after inspections and homes to have a few open houses before accepting an offer.

I’ll share the details of the home, the initial offer and then what I would do if I were purchasing the same home today.

The home:  List Price was $325k, seller was still living in the home, but had already purchased the home to which they were moving into- their next home needed work, so a flexible closing was desired. The home had previously had an accepted offer but the buyers walked away with the amount of work anticipated post inspection. The home was on the market for 12 days.

2016 Offer:  What I offered: $327k with $5k back towards closings and prepaid expenses. I was offering 3% between the initial and second deposit.

I had asked for a full home inspection, and offered the closing date for 3 months out to accommodate the seller’s request.

Since it was my first house, and I didn’t have the equity of another home, and didn’t want to pull from my (very meager) retirement account, I was putting down just about 5% (thanks so much, MassHousing and Jessica Correa Paquette).

After the inspection, there were a few things that came up that we negotiated to be repaired, but other than that, it was a fairly smooth transaction- there was one hiccup very close to the closing (but that’s another post altogether).

If I were buying the same house today (side note, the same house today would be worth probably closer to $600k)…. but for the sake of arguments….

2025 Offer: I would pull the history of comparable sales for the last 3 months in the area, and let that determine my offer price (also what I did in 2016). I may have to add in broker fees (also another post for another time), and would likely consider padding my offer a bit to ask for seller concessions to be applied to buying down my interest rate (look at that, one post yielded 3 other blog ideas…). I would reach out to my loan officer and have them run the scenario to make sure I am comfortable with the payments and what is expected with my downpayment.

If the seller was in the same position, I would request closing sooner, and offering a use of occupancy- allowing the seller to remain in the home, but taking ownership of it myself before moving in.

I would likely still ask for the inspections, but either have them for information only or offer back the initial deposit if I choose to walk away because of the inspection.  I’d also call my inspector prior to writing up the offer to see the soonest they can get in to make sure that my offer is tight and clean.

Obviously writing offers is not a “one size fits all,” and this example, while can be applied to real life, is just an example.  As a buyer’s agent, I sometimes need to get creative when writing an offer to suit the seller’s needs in order for an offer to be accepted (example: seller may leave any personal belongings in the home and does not need to be in broom swept condition… my buyer was a first time and their family owned a dumpster company, so this wasn’t a big deal for them).

If you’re thinking of making a moving and buying a property in the next 6-8 months, it’s a great time to start the conversation, discuss the market activity for the areas you’re looking in, and get introduced to a loan officer (I have some great ones to send over!).  Feel free to message or call me to get started!

Stacy

Stacy.Howe@NEMoves.com

617-379-1463