Does a Home Sitting on the Market Mean the Seller Will Accept Less?

A home has been sitting on the market for 30, 45, or even 60 days.

Does that mean the seller will accept a lower offer?

Maybe. But the number of days alone does not tell us.

A longer market time can give a buyer a reason to test the seller. It does not automatically mean the seller is desperate, motivated, or willing to negotiate.

Days on Market Do Not Reveal the Seller’s Bottom Line

Buyers often assume that a seller becomes more willing to negotiate with every day the home remains available.

Sometimes that is true.

I have represented motivated sellers who accepted a low offer because they wanted to be done. They did not want to counter and risk losing the buyer. Getting out of the house mattered more to them than holding out for a higher price.

I have also represented sellers who received multiple offers below their asking price and declined every one. They had a bottom-line number and were willing to keep the home if no buyer met it.

Both homes could have been sitting on the market for the same amount of time. The sellers simply had different priorities.

The Listing History Can Give Us Clues

We cannot know exactly what a seller will do before submitting an offer, but we can look for patterns.

Has the seller held the same price for more than 30 or 45 days?

Have they made several small price reductions?

Did they make one large reduction?

Was the home canceled and relisted?

Did a previous transaction fail?

Has the listing language changed?

Are they offering closing costs or other concessions?

A seller who has held firmly at the same price may be signaling that they are not interested in accepting substantially less.

A seller who has reduced the price several times, changed the marketing, or added concessions may be showing more urgency.

Those clues are useful, but they are not guarantees. A seller’s circumstances can change without appearing anywhere in the listing history.

Sometimes It Is Worth Asking

A buyer should not assume the seller will reject an offer simply because it is below asking.

If the offer is reasonable for the property and the buyer is comfortable with the possibility of hearing no, sometimes it is worth seeing what the seller says.

The seller may:

• Accept the offer
• Reject it
• Counter at a different price
• Agree on price but change other terms
• Decide not to respond

Submitting an offer gives the seller an actual decision to make. That is different from guessing what they might do.

However, there should still be some thought behind the number. An offer should not be low simply because the home has been sitting.

Look at What Other Sellers Have Accepted

Before deciding what to offer, I look at comparable homes that have recently closed.

How close did those homes sell to their asking prices?

Did sellers in that housing type and price range commonly accept less?

Were the homes similar in condition, location, layout, and market time?

If comparable sellers have consistently accepted around 99.7% of asking, requesting a much larger discount may not be supported by the market.

That does not mean a lower offer is forbidden. It means we should understand what we are asking the seller to do and whether there is evidence supporting it.

Read the Property, the History, and the Situation

A home sitting on the market can create an opportunity, but days on market are only one part of the story.

I want to understand:

• How the home compares with recent sales
• How long the price has remained unchanged
• Whether the seller has already adjusted the strategy
• Whether the property previously went pending
• What similar sellers have accepted
• Whether the buyer’s other terms make the offer stronger
• How much competition currently exists for that type of home

We may see signs that the seller is becoming more flexible. We may also see signs that the seller is prepared to wait.

The goal is not to assume desperation. It is to make a thoughtful offer based on what the property and listing history are telling us.

The Simple Answer

A home sitting on the market does not automatically mean the seller will accept less.

Some sellers become more motivated with time. Others hold firmly to their number regardless of how long the home has been available.

The listing history may give us clues, but the only way to know what a seller will accept is to give them an offer to consider.

Sometimes the answer will be no. Sometimes the seller will counter. Sometimes they will accept a number no one expected them to take because their motivation mattered more than the asking price.

That is why offer strategy should be based on more than days on market. It should consider the home, comparable sales, listing history, current competition, and the buyer’s complete terms.

If you are considering a home that has been sitting and want to understand what the seller might realistically consider, I am happy to help you read what has happened before deciding how to approach it.

Brandice Raybourn
Real Estate Broker | Coldwell Banker Danforth
Serving Snohomish County, Seattle, the Eastside, and North King County