Price from comparables, not from fear of rivals. Say: "Here's our best offer, in writing, valid until [date]." Submit once, attach an expiry, and honor it. If the round was bluffed and the deadline passes without a contract, your next offer can be lower — not higher.
Why they're saying it
A "highest and best" round is designed to make you negotiate against your own imagination. Instead of countering a real rival's number, you're asked to beat whatever you fear the other buyers might pay — which is always more than any of them actually offered. On a genuinely contested property that's just the market working. On a listing that's sat for weeks, a sudden noon-tomorrow deadline is theater.
The context tells you which one you're in. Real competition leaves evidence: a fresh listing, packed inspections, and the property going under contract right after the deadline. Manufactured competition is a stale listing that suddenly develops a crowd the day you show interest — and a follow-up call after the "deadline" inviting you to view again.
What to say back
"Here's our offer at [number], in writing, based on the recent comparable sales. It's our best number and it's valid until [date/time]. We won't be revising it, so please put it to the vendor as it stands."
"Our previous offer expired with the deadline. We're still interested, but our position has moved — we can do [lower number]. Happy to put that in writing today."
"Given how long the property's been listed, we'll keep our offer where it is. If another buyer tops it, congratulations to the vendor — but we won't be bidding against numbers we can't see."
Avoid these reactions
- Stretching past your ceiling to beat buyers who may not exist.
- Submitting an open-ended offer with no expiry, which lets the agent shop it around at leisure.
- Raising your number after the deadline passes with no result — that rewards the bluff and marks you as movable.
This is exactly what Negotiately does — live
Paste what the other side actually said and get the tactic, who holds leverage, and a reply written for your specific situation.
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