How Long Does a Seller Have to Respond to an Offer?

Your home is on the market and an offer just came in. Now what? Is there a deadline to respond, or can you wait and see if something better comes along? On this week's episode of Real Talk Real Estate, Jay and Andy walk through what sellers and buyers should expect once an offer is on the table.

Is there a legal deadline to respond?

In most cases, the deadline is whatever the offer says. Most offers include an expiration date and time, often 24 to 72 hours. If the seller doesn't respond by then, the offer simply expires.

Until the seller accepts and the buyer is notified, the buyer can usually withdraw the offer. That's one reason sitting on a good offer can be risky.

A seller's four options

1. Accept it. Once it's signed and delivered back to the buyer, you're under contract.
2. Counter it. Change the price, closing date, contingencies, closing cost help, or anything else. A counter is a new offer, so the buyer can accept, counter back, or walk away.
3. Decline it. You can turn down an offer outright, though a counter often keeps the conversation going.
4. Let it expire. Doing nothing is a choice too, but it usually sends the wrong message to a serious buyer.

What about multiple offers?

If you have more than one offer, or expect more soon, your agent may ask every buyer for their "highest and best" by a set deadline. This gives everyone a fair shot and gives you a clear comparison. Price matters, but so do financing strength, appraisal and inspection terms, settlement date, and how much the buyer is asking you to cover.

The risks of waiting too long

• The buyer may find another home or lose interest.
• Their financing or rate lock situation can change.
• Your listing keeps aging, and days on market is a number future buyers notice.

The benefits of not rushing

Taking a few hours to review the details with your agent is smart. Look past the headline price at:

• Net proceeds: what you actually walk away with after concessions and costs
• Contingencies: inspection, appraisal, financing, and home sale contingencies
• Timing: whether the settlement date works with your next move

What buyers should expect

If you're the buyer, set a reasonable expiration on your offer, keep your phone handy, and be ready to respond to a counter quickly. A clean, well-supported offer with a strong pre-approval often wins over a slightly higher one with more strings attached.

Thinking about selling? See what your home is worth or learn how we market homes.

House of the Week: 13914 Paradise Church Rd, Hagerstown, MD

This $485,000 split-foyer home offers 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and 3,124 square feet, including a private primary suite addition. A living room, family room and rec room give everyone space. Out back, a deck overlooks the above-ground pool, the lower level walks out to a covered patio, and an oversized two-car garage adds bonus storage.

Related episodes:

• Using your 401(k) to buy a home: real costs and better alternatives
• Why are sellers pulling their homes off the market?
• Closing cost concessions

Full episode transcript

Lightly edited for readability.

Andy: I'm Andy Webb.

Jay: And I'm Jay Day.

Andy: And this is Real Talk Real Estate. Jay, buying and selling houses is a lot like dating, because there's a dance that goes on. You flirt, you see who might be compatible, and then you send out a "Hey, I like you, do you like me?" How long do you wait to respond if you get one of those messages? It's the same with buying and selling houses.

Jay: It's interesting you ask that, because it's a common question, and we're going to talk specifically about Maryland. Say you're a seller. Your home went on the market Friday, and by 3 p.m. you have an offer in hand. What do you do? Do I get back to them immediately? Do I have to respond today? Tomorrow? I have 10 other showings lined up. Is there a prescribed plan?

In the state of Maryland, nothing in the contract of sale says the offer expires at a certain time. Other states around our area do have those terms in the contract or the offer, but Maryland does not. So it isn't standard to expect a deadline to respond.

However, just because there's no written deadline doesn't mean a buyer is going to wait forever. It's the same as the relationships we're talking about.

Andy: Yeah.

Jay: The bottom line is, we tell our sellers that when an offer comes in, it's totally up to you. You can respond immediately. Or, depending on how many offers you have, you can say, "I want to allow showings for a set amount of time," or "I want to set a deadline for when all offers have to be in."

Say you get an offer and you have 10 other showings, so you set a deadline. The agent then notifies everyone who has looked at the home, or is planning to, that there's a deadline. In real life, for some people that's not a problem. They'll put an offer in and get into a competing situation. Others just cancel the showing altogether. They're like, "I don't want to compete."

Andy: Wow.

Jay: "I'm not in." And think about it, life is very similar. Sometimes people just don't want to deal with the stress of competition.

Andy: That's right.

Jay: The bigger thing is that the person whose offer you have in hand could say, "Well, I'm not waiting. I'm withdrawing my offer."

Andy: So it could go the other way.

Jay: It can go the other way. What you have to keep in mind is that when you get that first offer, there's no prescribed timeframe and no exact science. It's not unusual for agents to tell their clients, "The home just went on the market. They'll probably want to keep it on for a couple of days." Not a huge amount of time, but that's sort of an expectation.

Now, when I'm working on the buyer side, I tell my buyer: this person just put their home on the market, and you absolutely love it. If you were selling, what would you want to see that would make you say, "I'm not waiting. I've got this in hand, I feel really good about it, and I've got to move"?

I call it the knock-your-socks-off offer. What is a knock-your-socks-off offer? It depends. Say you come in at asking price with a couple of contingencies. That's a good offer. But is it a knock-your-socks-off offer? Could somebody come in a little better, since you just hit the market?

Andy: They could take all those contingencies off. They could go above asking price.

Jay: Exactly. Now say you're the buyer, and you want to knock their socks off. Maybe you submit an offer $10,000 over asking and waive inspections. At that point, the seller may say, "I don't know if I really need to wait."

Andy: This person obviously wants it badly.

Jay: Yeah. And the reality is, since there's no set timeframe and no standard expiration point for offers in Maryland, it's case by case. I always tell my sellers, it's totally up to you. I'm not in control of the situation. What I need you to understand is that at any time after an offer has been submitted, if you don't respond, that buyer can decide to withdraw it. They can do it later that day. They can do it the next day. They can do it any time while they're waiting for you to respond.

And sellers, think about this too. Say you were on the buying side, and the seller is basically saying, "Thanks for sending your offer, but I'm going to wait and see if I get something better." Could you see a buyer getting upset by that?

Andy: Sure. Taking their ball and going home.

Jay: Yeah. There's no perfect answer, Andy. That's what it boils down to. You don't know what's going to happen. So what I typically tell the seller is: you've got this right now. Do you feel good enough about it to take it and not worry about what could be? Or do you want to see what could be, and potentially lose what you have? Maybe what could be turns out to be nothing. Or maybe it's better.

The crystal ball is broken. I don't have those answers. I tell people you have to be comfortable with what you feel good about, and what lets you sleep at night. If the person walks away, are you okay with that? Like I said, it's individual. Every person responds differently.

Andy: So what I'm hearing is: A, it varies from situation to situation. B, you need to be flexible. And C, you need somebody in your corner who can be your sounding board and answer those questions.

Jay: Yeah. And it's interesting, because as an agent, I've had sellers say, "Why would I want to take the first offer? That's just a quick sale. Are you just trying to rush through this?" Well, no. Again, it's not my choice.

And it's funny: an agent will reach out to us right after a home hits the market and ask, "Did you set a deadline?" And I'll say, "I don't ever set deadlines. That's not my call. My client hasn't set a deadline, because we've been on the market for two hours."

Andy: Right.

Jay: I don't want to be presumptuous and say we're going to get multiple offers. That could be a real turnoff, and some people may not even want to see the house if you start that way. So the key is to be flexible and understanding, whether you're a buyer or a seller. But realize that until everybody comes to an agreement, in writing, and everyone's on the same page, an offer could disappear.

Andy: Yeah.

Jay: Something better could come along, or nothing could come along. You need to be comfortable with whatever decision you make.

The biggest thing is, I see agents get frustrated with this sometimes. It's not our job to make the decision, or to force the seller to respond or not respond. Our job is to inform them of what could happen. If you want to wait, I'll tell the other side you want to wait. But realize the buyer could walk away, increase their offer, or just stay put and wait. Ultimately, our job is to tell the seller everything that could happen. Then the ball's in their court.

Andy: It's like a boxer in the ring. Your coach in the corner tells you what he's seeing from the outside, but ultimately you have to get in there, throw the punches and win the fight.

Jay: Exactly. That's just what we're dealing with. A lot of people don't understand it when I tell sellers that if they wait, the buyer could pull their offer. They're like, "Hold on. Really?" And I'm like, yeah.

The best way to think about it: say we're in high school, and you ask a girl to the prom. She says, "Maybe, but I want to see if a better guy asks me out." As much as that would hurt, where I come from, I'd say, "Okay, I'll wait." But again, it's situational. I wasn't the hot jock guy.

Andy: When you put it in that perspective, it makes you realize, "Okay, so I'm okay, but I'm not good enough."

Jay: Right, it does make you think that. So think that way. Or if you're a buyer, make it such a sweet deal that it's, as they say in The Godfather, an offer you can't refuse.

Andy: Exactly.

Jay: That's what it boils down to. From a buyer's perspective, what are you willing to pay for that house? From a seller's perspective, what are you willing to take, without worrying about what anybody else might pay for it? That's the dance. At the end of the day, that's all it boils down to.

I thought it was good to chat through this, because a lot of sellers don't know, and I'm running into this question a whole lot. So I figured, let's put it out to the masses so people know what to expect.

Andy: Some color in an otherwise gray area.

Jay: Exactly. So, are you ready for the House of the Week?

Andy: Yes. And speaking of color.

Jay: All right: 13914 Paradise Church Road in Hagerstown, listed for $485,000. It's a detached home on almost half an acre, with four bedrooms, three full baths and lots of space. There's a living room, a family room and a rec room. Usually you've got your dining area, your kitchen, your bedrooms and your bathrooms, but not that many living areas.

Andy: Right.

Jay: So this home has a little bit of it all. There's a private primary suite addition with its own full bath. Very, very nice. There's a large deck off the dining room, an above-ground pool, and a walk-out lower level with a covered patio. There's an oversized attached two-car garage, with stairs on the side up to a huge storage area that could be a workshop for you. And it's not in a neighborhood, so you've got some farmland around you. It looks very nice.

If you want to check it out, go to wrefm.com and look up the House of the Week. If you like what you see, click the button there to schedule a tour, give us a call, or let your agent know and they can bring you through.

Andy: I'm Andy Webb.

Jay: And I'm Jay Day.

Andy: This is Real Talk Real Estate.