You Made an Offer on a House! Now: When Will You Hear Back?
You've just made an offer on a house. How long after making an offer on a house do you hear back? Find out the average response times.
Home shopping can be a nerve-racking process! Some days, it may feel like you’ll never find the right combination of location, good schools, backyard, and square footage. But then you find it! The one! Your agent helps you write an offer, and now you’re nervously waiting for some word from the seller. And you’re dying to know — how long after making an offer on a house do you hear back?
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Short answer: One to three days
It’s unlikely your phone will ring that night. A one-to-three-day wait is pretty standard.
Chris Creegan is an experienced agent in Orlando, Florida, who works with 66% more single-family homes than other agents in his area. He says that in a hot housing market, “Sellers are really trying to hold out for multiple offers and to use that to bid against each other.” This means it could take a few days to hear anything.
Some states will ask sellers to reply within a certain amount of time after receiving the offer, or your agent can write a “reply by” date into the offer. One reason for this is because while you’ve got an offer out on a house, it’s not a good idea to make an offer on another property. If sellers take days to weeks to reply, you could miss out on other possible homes!
In some states an offer expiry is standard, and you can also add an expiration date to your offer to try to nudge the seller to respond. Creegan advises his buyers to not get involved in a long wait period, as often the sellers are just using his buyer’s offer to push the overall home price higher.
The seller will either accept your offer (you win!), make a counter-offer (asking for a higher price, different dates on the closing timeline, or different terms or conditions, perhaps), or reject your offer — you will have to start over and make an entirely new offer if you still want this house.
You might not hear back at all, that said! Sellers don’t have an obligation to respond to your offer, though it is the polite thing to do.
Long answer: Why it can take at least a day to hear back about an offer on the house
If buying a house is an important financial decision, so is selling one. Sellers need time to consider their options, and it could take longer than a day or week to hear back. Here are a few reasons why there could be a delay.
The seller doesn’t know about your offer yet
Perhaps the seller didn’t see the offer right away. Maybe they’re on vacation, or maybe their agent had a closing to attend and couldn’t send your offer over immediately. It’s going to depend on how frequently they communicate with their agent and how responsive both of them are.
The market is busy
If the market is busy and the seller’s agent is fielding multiple offers, your offer might get lost in the shuffle. Here’s where having a great agent on your side can help.
“Having an agent that is communicative and spends the extra time to talk to the agent and explain the benefits of the offer,” Creegan explains, “means that they can encourage the other agent to push the sellers to take the offer.”
If your agent is calling and following up, the seller won’t forget about you!
The seller is fielding multiple offers
If you’re in a seller’s market, expect it to take longer to hear back. In one week in July, Creegan saw 19 offers on one property.
“Being able to go through and review all offers and understand the differences of each offer — it does take time,” Creegan points out.
And if one offer has an escalation clause, but another would give the seller more time to find a new home, the seller may be weighing multiple variables and their relative importance to the seller right now.
