Two offers at the same price are frequently worth very different amounts. The difference is in the conditions, the dates, and the deposit.
Reading the conditions
Routine
Financing and inspection conditions, typically 3–5 business days. Normal, expected, and a well-qualified buyer clears them without drama. A status certificate condition on a condo is equally routine.
Worth scrutiny
A condition on the sale of the buyer's own property. It can be months, and it makes your sale contingent on a transaction you can't see. If you accept one, an escape clause letting you continue marketing is essential.
The other terms that matter
Deposit size and timing. Larger and sooner is better. It's the clearest available measure of how serious a buyer is.
Closing date. Match it to your own next move. A buyer flexible on closing is worth money if you're buying too.
Irrevocable date. How long you have to respond. Short irrevocables are a pressure tactic. You can counter with a longer one.
Chattels and fixtures. Check what they've asked for. Buyers routinely request items you intended to take.
Requested repairs or holdbacks. Read these closely; an open-ended repair obligation is a blank cheque.
Four clauses worth knowing by name
The escape clause
Where you accept an offer conditional on the buyer selling their own home, an escape clause lets you keep the property on the market. If a second, better offer arrives, the first buyer gets a short window, commonly twenty-four to seventy-two hours, to remove their condition or step aside.
Never accept a condition on the sale of a buyer's property without one. It is the difference between a deal and an option somebody else holds over your house for two months.
Time is of the essence
A standard clause, and a sharper one than it looks. It means every date in the agreement is a hard deadline rather than a target. A condition due at 5pm Friday that is waived at 5:15 has not been waived.
Which is why every condition needs a date attached, and why those dates have to be realistic when the offer is written. Five business days for financing across a long weekend is not five business days. Have the dates checked against a calendar before you sign rather than afterwards.
As-is, where-is
The buyer takes the property in its current condition, with no warranty from you as to its state. Common on estate sales, power of sale, and properties selling for land value.
An as-is clause does not relieve you of the duty to disclose a latent defect that makes the property dangerous or unfit for habitation. Sellers sometimes treat it as a blanket shield. It is not one, and relying on it that way is how people end up in litigation after closing.
Financial safeguards
The clauses that protect the money rather than the property. The deposit held in the listing brokerage's trust account rather than anywhere else. Deposit due on acceptance rather than at some later date. Where relevant, a holdback for work not finished by closing, and clear wording on who pays what if the closing date moves.
These are the least glamorous lines in the agreement and the ones that decide what actually happens when something goes wrong. See How Deposits Work.
A pre-emptive offer before your review date is a compliment and a tactic at the same time. It's usually strong, and it's designed to stop you finding out whether it was the strongest. Whether to look at one depends entirely on how much interest you already have. That's a same-day conversation, and it's one of the moments where having someone experienced on the phone genuinely earns the commission.