More than half of real estate agents surveyed by HomeLight said fewer or more favorable contingencies are the most common reason they would advise a seller to accept an offer below the highest bid. Another 20% pointed to a financially stronger buyer. Just 5% said they rarely recommend accepting anything other than the highest-priced offer.
For loan originators competing for purchase business — and the real estate agent relationships that come with it — the findings offer a useful look at the other side of the transaction: what real estate agents are paying attention to when evaluating whether a financed buyer can actually get to closing.
HomeLight surveyed 715 top real estate agents nationwide between Aug. 25 and Sept. 3 for its Fall 2026 Top Agent Insights report.
Financing Certainty Has Value
When HomeLight asked real estate agents what would make them hesitant to recommend an offer, uncertain financing came up repeatedly, along with numerous contingencies, low earnest money, and offers dependent on the sale of another home.
“Price gets everyone’s attention, but I’m looking much deeper than price,” Cleveland real estate agent Toni Noday-Krager said. “How strong is the financing? Is the preapproval solid?”
For an LO trying to build referral relationships, that can mean more than handing an agent a preapproval letter. Verifying the borrower's position early, setting a realistic closing timeline, and staying accessible when an offer is being written can help the agent understand exactly what they're bringing to the table.
Buyers Have Leverage, But They Still Have To Perform
That flexibility is showing up elsewhere in the market. Seller concessions reached a record spring high, appearing in 46.2% of May home sales.
HomeLight's survey suggests real estate agents are seeing that flexibility play out in how deals are structured.
When affordability is the buyer's primary obstacle, 38% of surveyed agents said a seller credit toward closing costs is the most effective strategy for generating an offer. That edged out reducing the sales price, at 31%, while 18% favored a mortgage rate buydown.
The preferred strategy varies by market. Closing-cost credits were more commonly recommended in the South, while agents in the Northeast and Mountain regions were more likely to favor a price reduction.
For LOs, the opportunity isn't simply telling borrowers to ask for concessions. It's working with the buyer's agent to determine which use of the seller's flexibility actually helps that borrower, whether that's reducing cash to close, lowering the payment, or changing the economics of the offer another way.
Home-Sale Contingencies Remain A Weak Spot
Home-sale contingencies were among the concerns agents raised when evaluating offers. Sandra Rathe, a HomeLight Elite Agent in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said tying up a seller's property with a contingent sale can create risk if the buyer's existing home doesn't sell.
NMP has seen an example of that dynamic from the financing side. During an NMP Ignite webinar on winning purchase business, C2 Financial's JP Dennis described helping a family whose $2.5 million contingent offer had been rejected qualify to make a $2.4 million noncontingent offer instead. The seller accepted the lower offer.
HomeLight's survey found 36% of agents most often recommend making the new purchase contingent on selling the current home. But another 27% favor strategies that separate the transactions: 14% pointed to buy-before-you-sell programs and 13% to bridge loans.
Those options won't fit every borrower. But for an originator trying to become more useful to a real estate partner, identifying a financing problem that could weaken an offer — and solving it before the offer is written — can be a stronger value proposition than simply competing on rate.
