Do I accept the first offer for an FSBO?

Less than an hour after we finished the Open House I got a call from the Realtor who stopped by with her clients at 11 am. 

Realtor: "...I'm writing up an offer now..." 

Me: "Ok." 

Realtor: "Should have it by tomorrow." 

Me: "Ok, thanks." 

Most Realtors are very tight on time. There wasn't anything beneficial I could say at that point so I kept my replies tight. 

CC SA Cathy Malmrose

Do I accept the first offer? In this case, probably yes. My guess is that right now the realtor is trying to convince the buyer to bid as high as possible to get the sale closed. The realtor has been working with the particular client for years, yes, years and I'm sure wants to keep this short. 

So, here's our rule: For an offer that's in the 1% - 3% range (Asking is $195k, offer of $189k) is where we'll do real negotiation. For any lowball offer lower than $189k, we'll send it back, but only slightly lower than asking price to show them that we're serious about asking price. 

Assuming the offer is $189 or above, we can negotiate on the details. Example: What extras are they asking for? Do they want anything upgraded or repaired before movein? When are they wanting to close? (If it's a few weeks out then that costs us in downtime.) 

It's likely we'll get close to our asking price. So far I've gotten a lot of great feedback on the home being well-priced, but the proof will come when I get to put that SOLD sign in the front yard. 

As soon as I get the sale closed and recorded, then this is what I'm going to do for three days straight: 

CC SA Cathy Malmrose