How do multiple offers work when you sell a house in Virginia?

What should I do first when more than one offer arrives?

Slow down, set a response deadline, and tell every buyer’s agent when you will decide. Your first job is to keep competition alive without letting it turn into chaos. Ask your agent to acknowledge each offer in writing, confirm the deadline to all of them, and avoid answering one buyer ahead of the others, because the moment you accept one offer in writing the rest are gone.

Then have your agent build a side-by-side comparison. A good one has a row for every term that affects what you get and what could go wrong: price, loan type, down payment, earnest money deposit, inspection terms, appraisal terms, any request for seller-paid closing costs, the proposed closing date and whether the buyer needs to sell a home first. Ask your listing agent to put it on a single page and walk you through it. Our Glen Allen office is one place to start if you want a second opinion.

Your options at the deadline are to accept one offer, counter one, counter several, or ask for highest and best. Which of these is right depends on how far apart the offers are and how much you believe the competition is real. Do not decide in a hurry because the first offer feels exciting. A day spent comparing is cheap when the alternative is a contract that falls apart three weeks later.

How do I compare offers when the prices are different?

Compare what you will net and how likely each offer is to reach closing, not the number on the first page. Two offers that look a few thousand dollars apart can leave you in a different place once you account for seller-paid closing costs, repairs the buyer will ask for, and the chance of a lower appraisal.

Start with the money. Your agent should run a net sheet for each offer using the real terms. Then look at certainty. A buyer with a large down payment and a lender who has already underwritten the file is a different animal from a buyer with a minimum down payment and a loan that has not been reviewed. Ask whether the offer comes with a pre-approval letter or a fully underwritten approval, and ask your agent to speak to the lender if the file is thin.

Next, weigh the contingencies. A home inspection contingency is normal and you should expect one. A request to waive all contingencies sounds strong but moves risk around in ways you should understand. An appraisal contingency protects the buyer if the home appraises below the contract price. Where a buyer offers to cover some gap, that commitment is only as good as their cash on hand.

Finally, look at the closing date. A buyer who can close when you need to, or give you a short rent-back after closing, may be worth more than a buyer who offers slightly more and needs three extra weeks. Our guide to what it costs to sell a house in Richmond shows the other numbers that belong in your comparison.

What is a highest and best round, and should I call for one?

A highest and best round asks every interested buyer to submit their final offer by a deadline. Call for one only when you have at least two serious offers that are close and you believe each buyer would pay more. If one offer is clearly better, or the offers are far apart, a counter is usually cleaner.

The strength of the tactic is that it pulls out the best terms at once. The weakness is that buyers learn quickly when a round is a bluff. If you declare a highest and best round on a home that has received one real offer, you lose credibility and sometimes the buyer.

When you do run a round, keep it simple and fair. Tell every agent the same deadline, the same instructions and the same way to submit. Ask for the terms that matter most to you, whether that is price, a larger deposit, fewer repair requests or a particular closing date. And tell buyers whether you will be making a decision on the deadline or reserving the right to counter after reviewing.

Be careful about sharing the details of one buyer’s offer with another. Whatever you tell a buyer about competing offers should be truthful, and it is worth asking your agent exactly how they plan to handle the question before it comes up. If you are unsure about the legal side of how to respond, talk to a Virginia real estate attorney before you sign.

Where I see people get this wrong

In fourteen years selling in Central Virginia, the mistake I see most often is a seller who accepts the highest number and discovers the cost of that decision three weeks later. I remember a family in the Richmond suburbs who had two offers. One was the highest price but carried a minimum down payment, a request for seller-paid closing costs and a long closing timeline. The other was lower, came with a stronger down payment and a lender letter that held up when we called.

We showed them the net for each and the risk of an appraisal gap on the higher offer. They took the stronger offer, it closed on time, and they were not renegotiating from a weak position in the middle of the contract. I am not saying the lower offer is always right. I am saying you should know why you are picking one before you sign.

The second mistake is the opposite one: pricing the home too aggressively and hoping for a bidding war. Competition comes from a home that is priced where buyers see value, prepared well and photographed well. It does not come from a number chosen in the hope that someone will pay it. Our post on which repairs to make before listing covers the preparation side.

What happens after I accept an offer?

Once you accept, the contract timeline starts and the remaining offers should be answered politely. Tell the other buyers’ agents their offers were not selected, and ask whether they would like to be a back-up if your agent believes a back-up makes sense. In Virginia a back-up arrangement is a separate written agreement, so do not treat a verbal promise as protection.

From there, the buyer’s earnest money goes into escrow, the inspection period runs, the appraisal is ordered and the lender works through underwriting. Read our explanation of how earnest money works in Virginia and what happens at the closing table so nothing in that sequence surprises you.

Keep your own responsibilities in mind too. Keep the home in the condition it was in when the buyer made the offer, keep showing it only if your agreement says you will, and respond to repair requests within the contract period. A good listing agent tracks these dates for you so you do not lose a deal over a missed deadline.

What should I do next?

If you are thinking about selling, start by finding out what your home would realistically bring and what you would net. Talk to Daniel Keeton or one of our agents about selling your home, see how we work in the Richmond market, or contact us with a question. If you are also buying, our buying page explains how we line up both sides of the move. For legal questions about contract terms, speak with a Virginia real estate attorney.