How to Compare Multiple Offers on Your Home in Metro West Boston

You listed your home in Waltham, Newton, or Belmont and now you’re sitting on multiple offers. The instinct is to grab the highest number and celebrate. I understand the temptation. But after years of representing sellers across Metro West Boston, I can tell you that the biggest number on the page is rarely the best deal in your pocket.

Here’s something I see regularly when advising sellers across Waltham and the surrounding towns. A seller gets two offers: one at $825,000 with conventional financing and a 60-day close, and another at $815,000 cash with a two-week timeline. That $10,000 difference feels significant until you run the actual numbers.

Your carrying costs depend on your situation, and they add up faster than most sellers expect. If you bought your Waltham home in the last five to seven years, you may still be carrying a mortgage payment of $3,800 to $4,200 per month. Add property taxes at roughly $650 per month at Waltham’s current rate of $10.32 per thousand, insurance around $150 to $200, and utilities at $250 to $350, and you’re looking at $4,800 to $5,400 per month. An extra 45 days costs you $7,000 to $8,000. If you’ve owned your home for 20 years or more and the mortgage is paid off or close to it, your monthly carrying costs are lower, maybe $1,100 to $1,200 in taxes, insurance, and utilities. But that still means an extra 45 days costs you roughly $1,650 to $1,800, and that is before you factor in the risk that the financed offer stalls, the appraisal comes in short, or the buyer’s employment situation changes.

The cash offer eliminates all of that. No bank involved, no underwriting timeline, no third party who can pull the plug. When I’m comparing multiple offers for my sellers, the first question I ask is: which buyer is most likely to close on time with the fewest complications?

How a buyer plans to pay for your Metro West Boston home directly affects your risk as a seller. Cash offers remove the two biggest deal killers I see in this market: appraisal shortfalls and lender denials. With median prices as high as they are across Waltham, Newton, and Belmont, appraisal gaps are a real and frequent issue. An appraiser working from comparable sales may not support the price a motivated buyer offered in a bidding war.

For financed offers, the down payment percentage tells me a lot about the buyer’s strength. Someone putting 20% or more down on a $790,000 Waltham home has over $158,000 committed before closing costs. That buyer has real skin in the deal. They’re far less likely to hit lending problems than a buyer scraping together 3% to 5% down, and they have more flexibility if the appraisal comes in $10,000 or $15,000 short.

I also look closely at where the pre-approval comes from. A letter from a local lender like a Watertown Savings Bank, Rockland Trust, or Leader Bank, who has pulled credit, verified income, and reviewed bank statements, carries a lot more weight than a quick online pre-qualification. In this market, that distinction has made the difference between a smooth closing and a deal that collapsed three weeks before the moving truck showed up.

Every contingency in an offer gives the buyer a legal path to walk away. Some are standard in Massachusetts. Others create risk that can cost you weeks and thousands of dollars.

The inspection contingency is where I see the most deals get shaky. Massachusetts uses a two-contract system: the offer to purchase and then the purchase and sale agreement, or P&S. The inspection typically happens between those two contracts. A buyer with a tight inspection window and clearly defined parameters for what counts as a material defect gives you much more certainty than one requesting extended timelines with open-ended language. That extra time is when cold feet set in, when buyers use minor findings to renegotiate price, and when deals start to come apart.

Appraisal contingencies are the other big factor. With Waltham’s competitive scoring at 85 out of 100 and hot homes regularly going pending in under 18 days, bidding wars push prices above what comparable sales can support. Strong buyers in this market will waive the appraisal contingency or include an appraisal gap guarantee, committing to cover the difference between the appraised value and the purchase price up to a set amount. That kind of commitment separates someone who will close from someone who might walk.

The contingency I watch most carefully is a home sale contingency. If a buyer needs to sell their current property before closing on yours, your transaction now depends on a separate deal you have zero control over. In a tight-inventory market like Metro West Boston, where only 239 single-family homes sold in all of Waltham last year, I generally advise my sellers to think hard before accepting these. If you do, make sure there’s a kick-out clause that lets you keep marketing and accept backup offers.

Massachusetts handles deposits differently than most of the country, and this matters when you’re comparing offers. We’re a two-contract state. The buyer typically puts down $1,000 with the initial offer, then the larger deposit, usually 5% of the purchase price, comes when the purchase and sale agreement is signed about two weeks later. On a $790,000 Waltham home, that’s roughly $39,500 held in the listing broker’s escrow account.

Five percent is the standard here, but a buyer who offers more than that is sending a clear signal about their financial strength and commitment. When I see a strong offer price paired with a deposit below 5%, it raises a flag. It can mean the buyer is stretching financially, isn’t fully confident in their own offer, or hasn’t been well advised. Any of those situations increases the chance of the deal falling through.

Your ideal closing date depends on your situation, but understanding the dollar value of each day matters when you’re comparing multiple offers. If you’ve already bought your next home or you’re relocating, an offer that closes in two weeks could be worth significantly more than one that needs 45 days.

Let me put real numbers on it. If you’re a growing family still carrying a mortgage, your monthly holding cost could be $5,000 or more. Each extra day on the market costs you roughly $165, and a 30-day difference in closing timelines means approximately $5,000 in additional expenses. Even if you’re a long-time owner with no mortgage, a month of taxes, insurance, and utilities still runs $1,100 to $1,200. Either way, that higher offer with the longer timeline may actually net you less when you subtract those holding costs. In Newton, where price points are higher across the board, the daily cost of delay is even steeper.

Longer timelines also create more room for problems. Buyers reconsider. Interest rates shift. Employment situations change. The longer a deal sits between accepted offer and closing, the more chances there are for something to go sideways. In my experience, speed and certainty are worth real money.

Some buyers ask for closing cost credits, specific repairs, appliances that weren’t included in the listing, or allowances for future updates. Each request takes money directly off your bottom line.

I build a side-by-side net proceeds comparison for every offer my sellers receive. Here’s how that works in practice. An offer at $780,000 with zero concessions may put more cash in your pocket than an offer at $810,000 that asks you to cover $12,000 in closing costs and complete $8,000 in repairs from the inspection report. That second offer looks like a $30,000 advantage until you subtract the concessions and realize the actual gap is only $10,000, and then factor in the longer timeline and carrying costs.

That comparison, showing purchase price, estimated concessions, closing costs, carrying cost differences based on timeline, and projected net proceeds, is what should drive your decision. Not the headline number.

How do I compare multiple offers on my home in Waltham MA?

List each offer side by side with the purchase price, financing type, down payment percentage, earnest money amount, contingencies and their timeframes, requested closing date, and any concessions or repair requests. Calculate your estimated net proceeds from each after subtracting all costs. In Waltham’s competitive market, where homes regularly receive multiple offers, the deal that puts the most money in your pocket with the highest certainty of closing is almost always the right choice.

Should I accept a cash offer below asking price in Newton or Belmont?

It depends on the gap and your circumstances. Cash eliminates appraisal risk, which is a real factor in Newton where the median sale price is around $1.4 million and comparable sales don’t always support bidding-war prices. If the price difference is $10,000 to $20,000 and the cash buyer can close in two weeks, the certainty and savings on carrying costs often make it the stronger deal. I run the actual numbers for every seller so the comparison is based on facts, not gut feeling.

What is an appraisal gap guarantee and why does it matter in Metro West Boston?

An appraisal gap guarantee means the buyer agrees to cover the difference between the appraised value and the purchase price, up to a specific dollar amount, out of their own pocket. In a market like Waltham where hot homes sell for 3% or more above list price and go pending in 18 days, appraisals frequently come in below the contract price. A buyer who includes this guarantee is telling you they have the funds and the commitment to close at the agreed price regardless of what the appraiser says.

How much earnest money should a buyer put down in Massachusetts?

In Massachusetts, the standard earnest money deposit is 5% of the purchase price, typically delivered when the purchase and sale agreement is signed. This is higher than the national average of 1% to 3% and reflects how our two-contract system works. On a $790,000 home in Waltham, that’s roughly $39,500. Buyers who offer above 5% are signaling strong financial readiness and serious intent to close.

How do Waltham property taxes affect my carrying costs while selling?

Waltham’s residential tax rate is currently $10.32 per thousand of assessed value. The average single-family tax bill runs about $4,895 per year, or roughly $408 per month. That’s actually quite competitive compared to neighboring communities. For sellers still carrying a mortgage, adding insurance and utilities brings your monthly holding cost to $4,800 to $5,400. If you’ve owned your home for decades and the mortgage is paid off, you’re still looking at $1,100 to $1,200 per month in taxes, insurance, and utilities. Either way, every extra month on the market is real money that reduces your net proceeds from any offer.