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One of the most common mistakes sellers make in a changing market is assuming a strong early offer means there must be a better one still to come.
It’s understandable.
When a quality offer arrives within the first few weeks of a campaign, many owners feel it’s too soon to make a decision. The instinct is to wait, test the market further and see whether another buyer emerges willing to pay more.
Sometimes that works.
But in today’s Canberra market, waiting can be just as likely to reduce your result as it is to improve it.
Recently, we worked with owners who received an excellent offer within the first month of their campaign. It was a genuine, well-qualified offer and the type of result many sellers hope to achieve after weeks of negotiation.
However, because the offer arrived so early, the owners felt there may be more in the market.
They decided to wait.
No stronger offer arrived. Buyer enquiry softened, the campaign lost traction and the property eventually sold through another agency for $150,000 less than the original offer.
It’s not a comfortable story, but it’s an important reminder that time on market is not neutral.
One of the biggest misconceptions in real estate is believing that an early offer comes from a buyer who has only just started looking.
In reality, many buyers have been searching for months.
They’ve attended inspections every weekend. They’ve watched listings come and go. They’ve missed out on properties they loved. They’ve adjusted their expectations, secured finance and developed a very clear understanding of value.
By the time they make an offer, they’re often highly educated, highly motivated and ready to act.
While your property may have only been on the market for two or three weeks, the buyer standing in front of you may have spent the last six months searching for the right home.
When they find it, they don’t necessarily wait.
They make a decision.
A strong early offer doesn’t always mean the campaign has more to give. Often, it means the property has connected with a buyer who has already done the hard work and recognises the value immediately.
The seller may be at the beginning of their campaign, but the buyer could be at the end of their search.
Many sellers view the first serious offer as the starting point for negotiations.
Sometimes that’s true.
But in a well-executed campaign, the strongest buyers often emerge early. They’re engaged, finance-ready and actively competing for quality homes.
A strong offer arriving quickly doesn’t automatically mean the property has been underpriced.
More often, it means the campaign has successfully reached the right buyers while attention is at its highest.
The first few weeks of a campaign are usually when buyer engagement is strongest.
The property is fresh to market. Inspection numbers are highest. Online interest is strongest. Buyers feel a sense of urgency because they know other buyers are seeing the same opportunity.
As time passes, that traction naturally begins to slow.
Instead of asking whether the property suits them, buyers start asking different questions.
Why hasn’t it sold?
Is there something wrong with it?
Are the owners expecting too much?
Will the price need to come down?
Nothing about the property may have changed, but market perception often has.
And perception can directly affect buyer confidence and negotiating power.
A strong offer should never be viewed as proof that a stronger one is coming.
It’s simply evidence of what the market is willing to pay at that point in time.
Markets move quickly. Buyers purchase elsewhere. New properties come onto the market. Circumstances change.
Waiting only makes sense when there is clear evidence that buyer competition is continuing to build.
Making decisions based on hope alone is rarely a successful strategy.
The challenge for many sellers is that the consequences of waiting don’t appear immediately.
Initially, holding out can feel like the right decision.
The impact often becomes clear later when:
– Inspection numbers decline
– Buyer enquiry softens
– Feedback becomes more price-sensitive
– Days on market become a discussion point
– Buyers begin comparing the property to newer listings
By then, the market may be negotiating from a very different position than it was a few weeks earlier.
Absolutely not.
The role of a good agent isn’t to encourage sellers to accept every early offer.
The role of a good agent is to determine whether the offer genuinely reflects current market value.
That assessment should consider buyer competition, comparable sales, inspection numbers, market conditions, contract terms and the overall level of traction within the campaign.
Sometimes the right advice is to hold firm.
Sometimes it’s to negotiate.
And sometimes it’s recognising that the market has delivered an excellent result sooner than expected.
The strongest period of most campaigns is usually at the beginning.
That’s when your property is attracting the highest level of attention and when serious buyers are most engaged.
If a strong offer arrives during that period, it deserves careful consideration.
Not automatic acceptance.
Not immediate rejection.
Careful consideration.
The better question isn’t, “Why has this happened so quickly?”
It’s, “Does this offer accurately reflect today’s market?”
Because sometimes the buyer who makes the first strong offer isn’t early at all.
They’re simply the buyer who’s been waiting the longest for the right property to come along.
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