Found the Home You Love? Make the Offer.

Home illustration, not an actual property listing.

By Christyne Bongiorno, Realtor®, Bongiorno Real Estate Group, Keller Williams City View, San Antonio

I've spent a lot of time this month doing my favorite part of this job: talking to buyers and sellers and showing homes across San Antonio, Boerne, New Braunfels and the Hill Country. And I keep having the same conversation with buyers, so let's have it here too.

Here's my honest advice

If you're a buyer and you find the home you love, the one you walk into and just know is right, make the offer. Don't sit back. Don't wait. And don't worry about offending the seller by offering something lower than what they're asking.

"But won't a lower offer offend the seller?"

I hear this all the time, and I'll tell you honestly, as someone who sits on the seller's side of the table too: most sellers would rather have an offer in hand than feedback that says "great home, buyers love it, they're just not ready to make a move." Feedback doesn't sell a house. An offer starts the conversation, and a conversation is where deals get made.

The asking price is a starting point, not a verdict

An asking price is what a seller hopes to get. It isn't the same as market value. Some sellers price with room to negotiate built in; some price from what they need, or what a neighbor got last spring. What a home is actually worth is what a ready buyer and a realistic seller agree on, and nobody finds that number until someone makes an offer. It might as well be you.

How to make the right offer

The right offer isn't automatically the highest one, and it isn't about paying less for the sake of paying less. It's the offer where the price and the terms fit that home and your goals. Most strong offers have three things behind them:

• A price grounded in what's happening in that neighborhood. Your agent should show you the recent sales that back your number up, whether that number lands below, at, or above the asking price.
• A strong pre-approval behind it, so the seller can take your offer seriously. If you're not pre-approved yet, that's step one. My preferred lender, Tom Romanello with Legacy Mutual Mortgage, can get you started, and I'm happy to make the introduction.
• Clean, reasonable terms, not just a number. Your timeline, your contingencies, and the seller's confidence that you'll close all count.

A strong offer starts with understanding what the home is worth and where there's room to negotiate. From there, you can decide whether an offer is realistic, when to hold firm, and when it makes sense to move forward.

"So is now a good time to buy?"

I'm not going to tell you this is a great market for buyers or a terrible one, because the honest answer is that it depends on you: your situation, your goals, your timeline. The right time to buy is when the right home shows up and you're ready for it. What I can promise is a straight answer about what I'm seeing with my own buyers and sellers right now, applied to your situation, not a headline.

A few questions I get about making an offer

How much below asking is too much? There's no magic percentage. It depends on how the home is priced, how long it's been on the market, and what similar homes have actually sold for. Start with recent comparable sales, the home's condition and your budget, not a preset discount. A home priced above comparable sales may warrant an offer below asking; a competitively priced home may call for a different approach. It's a numbers conversation, not a courage contest.

What if other buyers want the same home? Then we talk strategy, because competition changes the picture. Price is one lever. Your terms, your timing, and the seller's confidence that you'll close can matter too, depending on what that seller needs.

Should I wait to see if the price drops? Maybe it drops. Maybe someone else writes the offer this week. If you love the home and the numbers work for you, I'd rather see you start the conversation than hope the seller blinks first.

An offer starts the conversation

When you make the offer, the seller can accept, counter, or decline, and we go from there. Before anything is submitted, we review the price, the contingencies and what you'd be obligated to do, together, so there are no surprises. And that offer may turn into your next home. You'll never find out sitting on the sidelines wondering if you'd offend someone.

If you've been watching a home and talking yourself out of it, call me. We'll look at the numbers together and decide what a smart offer looks like for you.

With gratitude,
Christyne
Who you work with matters … Bongiorno Real Estate

Helpful links

Buying a house: free tools and resources from the CFPB
Browse homes and save a search at bongiornorealestate.com