How to read a home offer: price is only the first number

The deposit, or earnest money, is the buyer putting money down as proof of intent. A meaningful deposit does not guarantee closing, but it tilts the odds: a buyer with a real deposit has made a real decision to proceed and has something at stake in finishing.

Compare the deposit alongside the financing and the contingencies. A big deposit with a weak loan plan is still a risk; a reasonable deposit with clean financing and few contingencies is often the more reliable deal.

Cash is the cleanest financing of all, but most offers come with a loan. Read the loan type, the down payment, the pre-approval, and how the property is going to appraise in the transaction.

A strong pre-approval from a known lender, with a down payment large enough to clear the appraisal gap, moves faster and falls apart less often. That speed and reliability are worth something in your comparison, sometimes more than an extra ten thousand dollars on the price.

Common contingencies include the inspection, the appraisal, and the loan. Each one is a door the buyer can walk through to cancel the deal, so each one is a risk you are carrying until it is removed.

Read them for what they really are: how long each period runs, what triggers the buyer’s right to walk, and how far along the process the risk travels. A shorter contingency calendar, or fewer contingencies entirely, is a cleaner offer than a longer one at the same price.

Timing has a price too. A closing date that lines up with your own move saves you double mortgages, storage, and stress. A distant one keeps your costs running. Read the timeline the way you would read a dollar figure, because it is one.

Seller credits pay for the buyer’s closing costs or repairs and come straight off your proceeds, so ask what the dollar figure is and what it covers. And a rent-back, where you stay in the home after closing as a tenant, can be a graceful bridge or a liability, depending entirely on how clearly its terms are written.

When you have more than one offer, resist the urge to order them by price alone. Build the same comparison table for each: price, deposit, financing, contingencies, closing date, credits, rent-back. That table is where the real winner appears, and it is exactly the work PACT is designed to hold.

If the offers are close, asking every buyer for a best-and-final round is a normal, fair move. Request it in writing, give a clear deadline, and compare the final rounds the same way you compared the first. Keep the history; it protects you if a buyer’s memory of what they offered starts to wander.