Mortgages & Home Loans Homeowner Guide Why Buyers Pay More Than List Price for a Home Benefits may exist, but beware of sellers using manipulative tactics By Aly J. Yale Updated on June 22, 2022 Reviewed by Doretha Clemon Fact checked by Ariana Chávez In This Article View All In This Article Why You May Pay More Than List Price Be Cautious About Overbidding Bidding Against Yourself Reduce Risk With Escalation Clause Offering a Higher Bid Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How common is it for a house to have a bidding war on it? If I am offering more than listing price, can I get a higher mortgage? Should I write a letter to the seller to convince them to accept my over-listing-price offer? Photo: kali9 / Getty Images For many buyers, paying more than list price for a home goes against the grain—or, more specifically, the sense they're always supposed to negotiate in real estate transactions. Still, sometimes paying more than list price might be warranted. Reasons You May Want to Pay More Than List Price If you’re buying in a seller's market, you may want to pay more than a home’s listing price. Seller’s markets—also called “hot” markets—have high demand but low supply. As a result, home prices jump, and competition is stiff. You could find yourself up against bidding wars, and a higher offer may be the only way to stand out and secure the home. Here are a few other reasons you may want to bid more than list price: You love the home and want to make sure you get it. You know there’s a bidding war or lots of competition for the property. The house is undervalued (comparable sales can help you judge this). There are cash bids on the table. If you know that the seller isn’t exactly motivated to sell—maybe they’re testing the market, or it’s a second or third home they’re selling—then extra cash may be the motivator they need to accept your offer. Know What You Can Afford Considering your finances is also important. No matter how much you want a home, don’t offer over the listing price if you can’t afford it (or you’re not approved for a mortgage loan of that size). Be Cautious About Overbidding If you are relying on financing to close your deal, then highball offers may get you into trouble. To get a mortgage—and to determine the size of that loan—you will need to get an appraisal of the property for the bank. The appraiser's opinion of the home's worth will be based largely on comparable sales. If there are no comparable sales to support your offer price, the home will not appraise, which means that the bank won't loan you the full amount of your offer. Instead, it will only offer you the home’s appraised value. In this case, you have a few options: You can appeal the appraisal and get another one.You can ask the seller to accept the appraised value of the home.You can negotiate with the seller to reduce the price slightly, and then make up the rest of the difference out of pocket.You can pay the full difference between your offer and the appraised value out of pocket.You can pull out of the deal entirely. Canceling the Sale As long as you’ve included an appraisal contingency in your sales contract, you should be able to back out of the deal unscathed. If you try to do so without a contingency in place, you will forfeit your earnest money deposit. Bidding Against Yourself In a multiple-offer situation, the final price often exceeds the list price. Say that 10 buyers have made an offer to buy a home. Sometimes the seller cannot decide between the offers. The proposals could be similar to each other, so the seller might elect to ask each of the buyers to submit their highest and best price. It's sort of like a runoff in an election. Many buyers might see this as a second chance to get the home. Among agents, the practice is known as "bidding against yourself." You are asked to increase your bid without knowing how much the other offers—or if your offer is already the highest. Proceed with caution here, and remember: sellers can always counteroffer if they feel the home is worth more. You don’t have to increase your bid without more information about what they’re looking for in your proposal. Reduce Your Risk With an Escalation Clause In highly competitive markets, some buyers might employ an escalation clause in their purchase offer. An escalation clause works like this: A seller is asking $200,000 for his house. The potential buyer would write an offer that increases her bid incrementally to beat out other buyers. For example, the clause could say she will pay $1,000 above the highest competing offer up to a maximum price of $220,000. A Word of Caution Some buyers think this is a clever strategy, but few real estate agents agree. Below are some of the problems.You don't know if there is another higher offer, but an unscrupulous seller could pretend there is.You might pay a lot more than you would pay in a normal negotiation.It could cause appraisal issues if the price goes too high.Because no solid sales price is named, an escalation clause could also make the contract invalid. Offering a Higher Bid Quite simply, generalizing about when you should and shouldn't make a highball offer is impossible. On the plus side, if you pay over list price, that move often nets you the home, while not paying over list price for a home could mean you are missing out on a chance for the property you want. Remember that in highly competitive markets, you should always be aware of the potential for manipulative tactics by sellers. If you do decide to offer more than listing price, make sure to run the numbers by your agent or, at the very least, study up on comparable sales to make sure the price makes sense. Appraisal problems aside, you also want to be sure you’re making a smart investment of your dollars and that you’ll see a return on your investment when it comes time to sell. Note Experiment with different scenarios for your down payment, monthly payment, and loan term using our mortgage payment calculator. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How common is it for a house to have a bidding war on it? It's becoming more common. According to some estimates, up to 70% of offers in early 2022 were subject to a bidding war, which is up from 60% a year earlier. If I am offering more than listing price, can I get a higher mortgage? That will depend on how much you have been approved for. You may be able to qualify for a mortgage that is a few thousand dollars more than what you've already been approved for, or you may have to come up with the additional cash to make up the extra amount you'll be paying for the home. Should I write a letter to the seller to convince them to accept my over-listing-price offer? These letters could raise fair housing concerns and issues, and the National Association of Realtors strongly urges buyer's agents not to encourage them or deliver them to the sellers. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "What Are Appraisals and Why Do I Need to Look at Them?" Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "My Appraisal Is Less Than the Sale Price. What Does That Mean for Me?" Quicken Loans. "How an Appraisal Contingency Can Protect You." California Association of Realtors. "Escalation Clauses." Redfin. "January was the Most Competitive Month on Record for Homebuyers." National Association of Realtors. "Love Letters or Liability Letters?"