We were on the market for 35 days before the first offer showed up. One solid open house and a few that weren’t. Showings were light, which was right on brand for the Spring 2025 market. Buyers had all the leverage.

The offer we got wasn’t great, but workable. The buyer was an agent—semi-retired, and it showed. His offer was conditional on the sale of his home and a home inspection. I told him if he wanted this deal to go anywhere, he’d need to clean things up first.

If you’ve seen my SOP video, you know how I handle Sale of Property conditions—this was no exception. His listing was dragging. It was priced alongside three near-identical homes with the same appeal and same problem—none of them were selling. His photos were from a snowstorm in January that blanketed the entire yard. By April, everyone else had sunshine and green. He still had blizzard shots. His backyard was a selling feature and you couldn’t even see it.

Inside, a few rooms were painted in dark, heavy tones that didn’t help. The staging was off. And the photos were... not helping.

I sent the offer back with conditions of my own: repaint the key rooms, hire my photographer Marcus, cancel and re-list the property, and reduce the price by $10K.

I got him to sign off on all of that!

A week later we had his inspection. The inspector showed up early and chain-smoked five cigarettes in the driveway. The whole situation was strange and uncomfortable. We had a bad feeling. Sure enough they submitted a list of issues and asked for $30–40K off the price. We laughed and we passed.

Back to market.

Two weeks of quiet.

Then we got a new offer. Young first-time buyers. Straightforward, kind, and ready. Their agent, Vince, and I had worked together before. We stayed firm with our price. On their third offer attempt, we landed at 98.9% of asking. Inspection and financing went through without a note.

Done Deal.

Funny enough, five days later, my seller rented a home listed by the same Vince.

Relationships matter. Reputations matter. So does knowing when to wait, when to walk, and when to take the win.