Updated August 2026 · Reviewed by Adams, Cameron & Co.
You write it. It is your client's money and their decision, and refusing to submit a lawful offer because you disagree with the number is not your call to make. What is your job is making sure they understand the real odds before they sign, and then presenting it in a way that maximizes the chance of a counter rather than a flat rejection. Whether a low offer works has very little to do with how low it is and almost everything to do with how long the property has been listed and why the seller is selling.
- Write the offer. It is the client's money and their decision, and declining to submit it is not your prerogative.
- Set expectations first, in plain terms, so a rejection is an outcome you predicted rather than a surprise.
- Days on market is the single biggest factor. Week one and week twenty are entirely different conversations.
- Terms can carry a low number. Cash, a short inspection period, flexible closing and a clean contract all buy room.
- The real risk is not rejection, it is no counter, and how the offer is presented is what changes that.
A buyer wants to offer well under asking. You think it will be rejected. This is one of the most common conversations in the job and new agents handle it badly in both directions, either refusing to write it or writing it without saying anything.
Write it, and be clear about why
It is their money and their decision. You may think the number is wrong; you may be right. Neither of those makes it your call, and refusing to submit a lawful offer because you disagree with it is not the role.
What you owe them is a straight assessment before they sign, not a veto. There is a version of this that agents perform badly, where the disagreement is expressed as reluctance and delay rather than as advice, and the client is left feeling managed rather than represented.
Say what you think plainly, once. Then write the offer they want.
Set the expectation before you send it
Say the likely outcomes out loud, in order, so nothing that follows is a surprise:
- They may reject it outright with no counter, which is the most common outcome on a fresh listing.
- They may counter, which is the good outcome and the actual objective.
- They may take offense, which is worth naming, because it can affect how a later, more serious offer is received.
- They may accept, which happens more than pessimists expect, particularly on a stale listing.
The reason to say this in advance is the same one that applies on the listing side in what to do when a seller insists on overpricing: a predicted outcome is information, while an unpredicted one looks like your failure.
What actually determines whether it works
Buyers assume the answer is how low the number is. It is not, or at least not mainly.
Days on market. The single biggest factor. A property listed six days ago has a seller who still believes the price. The same property at week twenty has a seller who has had two price reductions, a mortgage running, and a lot of weekends spent tidying up for showings. The number that offends in week one gets a counter in week twenty.
Why they are selling. A seller who has already bought elsewhere, been relocated, or is settling an estate has a timetable. A seller who will simply stay put if they do not get their price has no reason to engage.
Price history. Two reductions already tell you the seller has moved and is capable of moving again.
Whether the evidence supports the offer. There is a real difference between a low offer and a correctly-priced offer on an overpriced house. If comparable sales support your buyer's number, this is not a lowball at all, it is a valuation disagreement, and it should be presented that way.
Most of that is knowable before you write. A polite call to the listing agent to ask about the seller's timing and motivation is ordinary practice, and the arrangements around working with another firm's listing are in can you show a listing from another brokerage.
Make the rest of the offer easy to say yes to
Price is one term among several, and the others are where a low number can be made survivable.
- Proof of funds or a strong approval, so the seller is not weighing a low number against a doubtful buyer.
- A shorter inspection period. Sellers fear a second negotiation after inspection more than they fear the first one.
- A closing date that suits them, which is free to give and often genuinely valuable.
- Fewer requests. A low offer that also asks for closing costs, a home warranty and the appliances reads as unserious.
- A meaningful deposit, which signals the buyer is real, as covered in how earnest money works in Florida.
The framing to give your buyer is simple: every other term you make comfortable buys a little more room on the number.
Presentation is what produces a counter
The genuine risk is not rejection. It is a rejection with no counter, which ends the conversation and leaves nowhere to go.
Reduce that by giving the seller a reason to engage. Send the comparable sales that support the number, so it reads as reasoning rather than as an opening gambit. Say plainly that your buyer is serious and expects a counter. Where it is true, mention that they can move quickly. And call the listing agent rather than only emailing the paperwork, because a human conversation makes a dismissive rejection less likely.
Ask your buyer one question before sending: if they counter at a number in the middle, are you buying it? If the answer is no, the offer is not really an offer and you are both about to spend a week finding that out.
When it is genuinely a problem
Two situations where the low offer is a symptom rather than a strategy.
The buyer cannot afford the market. If every property they like requires a discount nobody will give, the honest conversation is about budget or area rather than tactics. Having that conversation early is a kindness; avoiding it costs both of you months.
They enjoy the process more than the outcome. Some buyers want the win rather than the house, and will lose properties they liked over small sums repeatedly. You cannot change that, and you can decide how much of your year to spend on it.
And when it works
Sometimes it just does. A seller has been waiting five months, the mortgage is running, they have already moved, and a clean offer with a short inspection period at a number below what they wanted is genuinely attractive because it is finished.
That is why you write it. You do not actually know what is happening on the other side, and the cost of asking is a piece of paper.
The honest bottom line
Submit it, having told them honestly what you expect. Improve the odds by understanding the seller's situation before you write, strengthening every term that is not price, and presenting the offer with reasoning attached so it earns a counter.
Then let the client make the decision, because it was always theirs.
← Back to For Experienced Agents