Many buyers offer their home with a floor price in mind -- one they're absolutely not willing to go below. It becomes a point of pride in what can be an emotional process. That can be dangerous.
In the long run, an extra $1,000 (or even $3,000) is a drop in the bucket -- and it's not worth fighting over, even if it's below your floor price. But what about an offer that's $5,000 or even $10,000 below what you were hoping to get?
"Buyers don't care what your minimum price is," says Leslie Nichols, a broker for Nichols & Associates Real Estate in Houston. "Price is the most important thing. ... Price will overcome location. Price will overcome condition. Price will overcome everything else."
Before automatically rejecting a low offer, consider a few factors and be brutally honest with yourself. Determine how many months that shortcoming works out to in terms of your regular mortgage and utility expenses. What are the odds you'll get an acceptable offer in that time period? If they're not excellent, give the "bad" offer a second look.