The Week I Accepted An Offer For My 4Runner

This week was freakin’ madness.

All my leads had dried up and I hadn’t met with anyone in like 2 weeks. So, I decided to update the listing price down from $31,750 to $29,995 and added a little section at the top to address any concerns with it being on the market for 3+ weeks.

I think by Wednesday I had 2 new messages from people that wanted to meet and check it out in person.

But here’s where the madness started…

So I had scheduled one meeting for Thursday afternoon.

In that time, the second buyer also wanted to schedule a meeting. I told him I had another interested buyer, but I could try to squeeze him in on Friday.

He said he was really interested and looking to potentially buy, saying that he’d be willing to do my listed price of $30,000.

WOW, okay, this is getting juicy.

Thursday’s appointment went well! They liked it a lot, but needed to contact their bank first for a loan before being able to firmly put in an offer. I told them there was another buyer and they offered $30k. They said they’d most likely be willing to match that.

They messaged me saying they were extremely interested in it and started envisioning driving around already. I could tell they really wanted it.

By the next morning, this first buyer went to the bank, their bank had some complications with the $30k valuation, not exactly seeing the same value of upgrades that I was seeing.

At the end of the day, they said the most they could do would be $28,500.

I thought to myself, damn okay, I’m actually good with $28,500 at this point, but the only reason I don’t instantly accept this is because another buyer literally told me they’d do $30k.

By the evening, the second buyer’s meeting rolled around.

Another typical meetup. This buyer was a lot more laid back though and didn’t openly express as much interest as the first buyer. He was interested though, just I didn’t get the sense he was urgently interested.

I told him about the first buyer and he said he’d be willing to do $30k.

The only complication… He also needed to get financing and talk to his bank, so he needed another day before putting in a firm offer.

Knowing what the first buyer just went through with their banks valuation, the fact that he said he’d offer $30k kind of meant nothing to me. I needed an offer after talking to a bank.

Here’s where things get interesting…

I had a feeling the first buyer was quite upset and disappointed that the most they could offer was $1500 lower than what I was asking.

They wrote back saying by Saturday morning they were gonna go check out some other 4Runners and to let them know if I get an update from the second buyer before then.

This put me in a pickle.

I had an offer that I’d normally instantly accept, except I needed to wait for the morning to get a final offer from the second buyer.

But knowing the bank process the first buyer went through, I had low confidence that they’d end up being able to get a loan for the full $30,000.

Friday night I just couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking about what the hell I do in this situation.

I need to wait until the second buyer’s offer to make a final decision, but what if the first buyer bails on me before the second buyer can get back to me, and their offer ends up lower than $28,500. I’m gonna be kicking myself if that happens and it’s looking like it could happen.

Here’s a 30 second view of that night’s thoughts…

I woke up Saturday morning and listened to my gut.

There were a lot more details in this, so I did a full breakdown of my decision, assigned probabilities and some math, and wrote out my full decision.

I messaged the first buyer saying I accepted their $28,500 offer.

It wasn’t until late morning that I heard back from the second buyer.

And like clockwork, they said the most they could offer was $28,000. Their bank wouldn’t loan them more than that.

I read that situation like a goddamn BOOK.

I declined the second buyer’s offer, but what happened next was NOT part of my full logical decision breakdown.

They responded saying they asked their family to loan them the extra $2,000 to offer the full $30,000 I was asking…

A total curveball.

At this point it was too late.

The probability of this happening was so low, I did NOT consider that.

There will always be what-ifs, and I’ve already noticed my mind thinking about those what-ifs…

But at the end of the day, I’m still happy with $28,500 and I preferred to do business with this first buyer anyways.

Sure, it’s unfortunate I might have missed out on an extra $1500, but I think I made the right decision, at the right time, given the probabilities and information I had available.

What’s Next?

So, I’ve already accepted a $500 deposit from the buyer I’m working with and they’ve told me the timeline their bank needs to get this completed.

I’m feeling a lot more confident about this deal than the previous one that fell through a couple weeks ago because they’ve already gone to their bank. It’s just a matter of finishing the loan process, not finding a loan.

An offer submitted after going to the bank is a LOT stronger than one before going to a bank (if not paying cash).

The current plan is that by sometime mid-week, we’ll meet up to sign the title over and this whole process will be over with 😌

Things change quickly! I have a feeling getting the listing price under $30,000 opened up the listing to searches <$30,000, which was just what I needed.