It’s hard not to get offended when someone makes an offer that’s so off of the beaten path, that one can’t help but  be offended.    

Who can blame you for being offended, but here’s the deal:  take offense, calm down, regroup, think rationally and then counter.

There now, isn’t that better.  Getting a low ball offer is always a 1000 times better than getting no offer at all.  There are few things worse than (or maybe even on par with) a low ball offer and they are:

• Letting pride get in the way of accepting an offer
• Not coming to grips with the reality that your home my not be worth as much as you had hoped
• Not countering an offer at all

If there is one solid piece of advice that I have for sellers, it’s don’t let pride stand in the way of selling your home.  In preparation for receiving that first offer, I would caution sellers to remember the ultimate objective and long term goals.  This particularly holds true if a home has been on the market a while and has not yielded any offers and then along comes the lone offer. If your home has been on the market for months, first consider that the pricing is all wrong.  Secondly, no matter what the terms of the offer, be prepared to counter offer as this may be the only offer that you get, consider the slow to no showings track record. Every communication with a buyer is an opportunity for a sale.  So don’t let pride get in the way of your ultimate goal. Negotiate. Negotiate. Negotiate.