Making an offer
Set your price and terms before negotiation pressure begins
Understand price evidence, set a fixed financial limit, decide your terms, then submit a private-sale offer or prepare to bid — and know exactly what each possible outcome means, without relying on the listing price, agent pressure or last-minute emotion.
What Delora will and won't do here
Helps you
Understand price evidence, separate price from terms, set your own ceiling before negotiating, and know the rules that govern private sales and auctions in Victoria.
Won't do
Tell you what to offer or bid, predict a vendor's reserve, draft contract clauses, or suggest raising your limit because "there's another offer" or the property is "on the market".
The eight-stage offer and auction pathway
Each stage opens its own guide, in the order a buyer actually needs to work through them — before a private-sale offer or an auction bid, not after.
Understand price evidence
Stage 2 of 8Set your financial limits
Stage 3 of 8Decide your terms
Stage 4 of 8Submit a private-sale offer
Stage 5 of 8Prepare for auction
Stage 6 of 8Handle competing offers and counters
Stage 7 of 8Understand deposits
Stage 8 of 8Know when to walk away
Six principles behind every offer guide
1. Price and terms are separate
A higher price with protective conditions is not the same offer as the same price unconditionally.
2. The limit comes from you
Delora can help calculate a purchase ceiling; competition, agent pressure or a rejected offer are never reasons this site suggests raising it.
3. Evidence before negotiation
Build an offer from financial limits, comparable sales and due-diligence findings — not the listing price alone.
4. Agent statements are unverified
"There are other offers" or "the reserve is around this" are recorded as agent statements, not independently verified facts.
5. Auction prep happens before auction day
Most auction purchases carry no cooling-off and can't be made conditional after a successful bid — finance, inspections and contract review need to be done in advance.
6. No sunk-cost escalation
Inspection fees, conveyancing costs and time already spent researching are never a reason to exceed your limit.
All guides
The complete guide to making an offer and buying at auction
Price versus terms, private sale versus auction, conditions, deposits, negotiation, and what happens after your offer or bid is accepted.
Understanding price guides: reserve, asking, estimated and indicative price
Why these are four different numbers, what the Statement of Information must disclose, and how Victoria's underquoting rules work.
Setting your maximum price and walk-away limit
Total acquisition budget, maximum contract price and walk-away number are three different figures — a worked worksheet for telling them apart.
Conditional vs unconditional offers
Why sellers may prefer fewer conditions, why buyers use them, and why unconditional isn't automatically the stronger strategy.
Making a private-sale offer
How a private-sale offer is actually made, common conditions, the deposit, negotiation, and when the sale becomes binding.
Buying at auction
Auction rules, vendor and dummy bids, bidding advances, being 'on the market', and what to do if a property is passed in.
Competing offers and counteroffers
Best-and-final requests, counteroffers, and why raising your price just because another buyer exists skips the evidence step.
Property deposits, explained
Trust accounts, early release, amounts and what happens to your deposit if a sale falls through — private sale and auction, side by side.
Offer rejected, expired or withdrawn
What each outcome actually means, and why none of them is automatically evidence your price was wrong.
Emotional discipline and when to walk away
FOMO, sunk costs and auction pressure — and why walking away at your limit is the plan working, not a loss.
Already published, linked not duplicated
These already exist as their own real, sourced pages rather than being rebuilt here.
The cooling-off period
The real length, start date, refund calculation and full exclusion list — including why most auction and pre-auction purchases get none.
HubProperty due diligence
What to have resolved — contract, Section 32, planning, owners corporation — before an offer or bid becomes unconditional.
GuideSafe budget vs. borrowing capacity
Where a purchase ceiling should start — before duty, fees and a buffer are added.
Related buying stages
Preparing financially
Your safe budget is where a total acquisition budget starts, before duty and other costs.
Earlier stageProperty due diligence
Resolve the contract, title, planning and owners-corporation position before you offer or bid.
Earlier stageInspecting properties
Physical findings that should shape your terms, not just your price.
Next stageSettlement
Once your offer or bid is accepted, coordinate finance, conveyancing and the final inspection.