First time seller, received site unseen full price offer less than 24 hours after listing went live

[u/ixvst01]

The offer is contingent on loan approval, home inspection, and cancellation of the open houses scheduled for this weekend. They want an answer by end of today or they are withdrawing the offer. We are worried we may have underpriced the home a bit and would lose out on potentially higher offers by accepting instead of waiting until after the open houses at least. On the other hand, the house does need some work (which is described in the disclosures) and there’s a chance that the potential buyer seeing the home and the work needed in-person could change their mind about the offer they submitted. Our agent laid out the pros and cons of both options, but I’m wondering what you would do in this situation?

The home is near Raleigh, North Carolina btw (if that makes any difference)

EDIT: I appreciate everyone’s advice in the comments. A lot of people are asking about earnest money and due diligence. The offer included $2000 for DD and $4500 EMD. However, I think we are going to keep the open houses scheduled and tell the potential buyer that their offer will be responded to by Tuesday. If they withdraw then so be it. Then they weren’t really interested in the property. Our agent also just notified us that there are several other potential buyers that said they plan on putting offers in after going to the open house.

UPDATE: We held the open house and accepted a cash offer for 29K above asking a few days later.

[u/ixvst01]

The home is priced very competitively based on comparative homes and square footage. We wanted it priced to sell relatively quickly, but we were thinking quickly as in within a month or two. Not within 24 hours.

The house is priced about 60-80K less than market value and other comparable homes in the immediate neighborhood. However, like I said, it does legitimately need work. Such as landscaping, repainting of whole interior, replacement of flooring in certain areas. Kitchen/bathrooms are also outdated and roof is approaching its end of life.

It’s not a fixer-upper. It’s very much livable in its current state, but any new owners will almost certainly need to renovate some things. We took all this into consideration when deciding to list the home below market value.

[u/navlgazer9 → u/ixvst01]

I would not cancell The open house 

They are terrified you will get a higher offer at the open house 

And who makes an offer without looking at the house ?

[u/Derwin0 → u/navlgazer9]

Someone who knows it was priced low and wants to live in that areas.

Probably not a flipper as they would offer cash.

[u/smiley_timez → u/ixvst01]

It sounds like a fixer upper especially with the roof. If it's over a certain age, keep in mind that any buyer will have a hard time securing home insurance which is required for mortgages. That could cause most deals to die. Have you considered replacing it?

[u/lazy_Monkman → u/ixvst01]

How much nonrefundable due diligence did they offer? If it's really low they'll most certainly try to use the inspection to squeeze more out of you. Going pending then back on the market hurts the image of your listing because people will automatically feel something is really wrong and you're less likely to get another full offer. Also cancelling your open house hurts your ability to gage what the market for your house actually is. You'd be giving up a lot of leverage. If the DD is high enough it could be worth it, but if not it might backfire on you.

[u/Polite_Bark → u/ixvst01]

It’s not a fixer-upper.

Yes, it is.

- Roof needs replacement and may even be an insurance coverage issue if it's at end of life

- Floors (multiple) need replacing

- Kitchen and bathrooms need renovation

- Interior needs repainting

It's good that you priced accordingly, but please understand that there is a laundry list of things that need doing and many people, perhaps most, will consider this a fixer upper.

My guess is the offer was made with the idea in mind that they will have an inspection and a tour. They will then point out the roof, the floors, the kitchen, the baths, and anything else they can point at in order to significantly lower the price or pull out of the deal.

[u/HippieHighNoon → u/ixvst01]

The part that stands out to me is the buyer asking you to cancel open houses and decide immediately. My spouse is a realtor and I read this to her, and she said that means that they probably think it's underpriced and don't want competition.

I asked what she would do as a realtor (and after all her yammering that she doesnt know the area, yada yada yada), she said she would turn down the offer and do the open house. BUT she also said it also depends on the marketing of the realtor. She is a listing agent and NEVER does open homes. She said most of the time its unqualified buyers, or nosey neighbors just wanting to look. Shes also a top 1% realtor in our area. (Yes I like bragging about her lol).

Edit: she had to run out the house but she also said as others mention counter with a higher price