Read the Man Before the Offer

Every suspensive condition in an offer is a door out of the deal, so a high offer carrying several conditions can be worth less to a seller than a lower one carrying almost none. An offer well above asking that depends on the buyer selling another house, with no bond pre approval and vague answers about when the deposit will be paid, has a long row of hurdles to clear before it becomes money. A slightly lower offer from a buyer whose bank has already pre approved a bond, with the deposit going into the conveyancer's trust account within days, has very few.

On paper the first one wins. In practice, if it collapses months later, the seller has lost the second buyer and kept the house off the market the whole time, which usually costs more than the gap between the two prices.

That is why the person behind an offer deserves as much reading as the number. How quickly does he send his FICA documents? Does he answer a straight question straight? Does he push for a rushed signature, or give the other side time to check? None of it is printed on the offer to purchase, and it tends to predict the ending better than the price does.