Are you planning to sell your Rancho Santa Fe home this fall or winter so you can upsize into one of the more impressive Rancho Santa Fe homes for sale? The Rancho Santa Fe real estate market is considered to be a seller's market with more interested buyers than homes listed for sale. 

If you prepare your home properly and work with an experienced agent who can price it competitively via comparative market analysis, you’ll likely receive multiple offers on your home. In this ideal scenario, it’s important to determine the offer best suited to your wants and needs. 

Understand your goals for selling

The right offer does not look the same for every seller of Rancho Santa Fe homes, as everyone has different selling goals. For example, if you have a job offer in another part of the country and need to relocate immediately, you’ll likely prioritize the speed of the transaction. On the other hand, if you have your eye on one of the luxury houses in Rancho Santa Fe for sale, you’ll likely need to sell for the highest price to afford your next residence. 

Before entertaining offers, talk with your real estate agent about your selling goals so they can guide you when it comes to choosing the right offer.

Elements of a strong offer

Before ranking the offers you receive on your home, you need to understand what the components of a strong offer are. Generally speaking, a strong offer will have:

• A high price. Though the price is often not the most important part of offers on Rancho Santa Fe homes, it’s always an important consideration. In a seller’s market, offers that are at or above the listing price are considered strong.
  
  
• Lack of contingencies. Common contingencies, such as those based on financing, a buyer selling their home first, or the results of appraisals or inspections, protect the buyer and are often written into offers. For you, fewer contingencies mean there are fewer opportunities for the deal to fall through or be delayed.  
  
  
• Large down payment. Well-qualified buyers of houses in Rancho Santa Fe tend to put at least 20% down on homes and are considered low-risk borrowers. These types of buyers also present less risk for sellers as there is little chance of their financing falling through.
  
  
• A cash offer. If a buyer does not need to obtain a mortgage to buy your home, there is no chance of financing falling through and the deal can proceed more quickly.
  
  
• Pre-approval for a mortgage. If none of your offers are in cash, the next best thing is a pre-approval letter as it’s an assurance from a lender the buyer will be able to obtain the money they need to buy your home.
  
  
• Loan type. Some types of loans can slow down the selling process and present more opportunities for complications. For example, an FHA loan requires certain approvals and repairs before the loan can close. For the most part, conventional loans are the least complicated loan options available.
  
  
• Flexibility. Is the buyer willing to move the closing date up or back? Would they consider a leaseback agreement? Are they willing to pay full closing costs? The more willing to work with you the buyer is, the stronger the offer.

Options when you receive multiple offers

Those who get multiple offers on their houses in Rancho Santa Fe have options to help them get the most out of their sale. They include:

• Choosing one offer and turning down the rest. If selling your home quickly is your top priority and one offer stands head and shoulders above the rest, you can simply accept it and turn down the other offers.
  
  
• Counter-offering the best offer and turning down the rest. If you have more time to work with and want the highest sale possible, counter-offer your highest bidder. 
  
  
• Counter-offering the best offer and putting the others on hold. This is similar to the previous option, but lets you move to the next offer should the first buyer not accept your counter-offer.
  
  
• Invite all interested buyers to make their best offer. Remove all the time-consuming back-and-forth and have your agent tell all interested parties to submit their best offer. Then, choose the one best suited to your selling goals.

Use your agent’s guidance

The best thing about selling Rancho Santa Fe homes with an experienced real estate agent is that you don’t have to go through the process alone. When you receive multiple offers, sit down with your agent and have them help you identify which is the strongest best on the criterion detailed above. When choosing an agent, get insight into their process by asking them upfront how they handle multiple offer scenarios.

Are you looking for more information on handling multiple offers or Rancho Santa Fe real estate? Feel free to reach out to the Baker Knight Group for all your Rancho Santa Fe real estate needs. Our team would love to show you some Rancho Santa Fe real estate and homes for sale.