Can you place Verbal Offers in NYC Real Estate? (2025)

August 16, 2025 by Georges Benoliel

When purchasing a property in NYC, you might want to submit a verbal offer. However, it’s essential to resist this temptation. Verbal offers in NYC are rarely taken seriously, as they can weaken your negotiating position and ultimately decrease your chances of successfully securing a property.

In this article, we will explain why making a verbal offer in NYC is a risky move.

Why are verbal offers uncommon in the NYC real estate market?

Verbal offers on a house are rare in New York City real estate for several reasons. Firstly, there is usually a strong demand from qualified buyers, regardless of market conditions. Good listings tend to sell quickly, resulting in a fast-paced sales process. This competition encourages home buyers to submit written offers.

Co-Ops Reject - Verbal Offers in NYC Real Estate

Consider this scenario. If two offers present the same terms, but one includes proof of funds, a pre-approval letter, and the seller’s attorney’s contact information, which offer do you think the seller is more likely to accept?

The most successful buyer’s agents excel at submitting well-organized and professionally presented offers.

Buyers are motivated to submit written offers to gain an advantage. Sellers in NYC have grown accustomed to receiving fully documented offers. As a result, verbal offers are nearly always dismissed outright by sellers.

Verbal offers don’t work for co-ops.

One reason verbal offers are rarely used in New York City is that most properties for sale are co-ops.

Co-op apartments have specific financial requirements for buyers. A co-op board will reject any buyer who does not meet the building’s financial criteria, which may include limits on the debt-to-income ratio and a required level of post-closing liquidity.

Sellers of co-ops are hesitant to accept buyers who may be rejected, as this would require them to restart the sale process and relist the property, causing them to lose any momentum they had gained. Additionally, the listing may carry the stigma of a difficult co-op board, which could deter potential buyers.

As a result, the terms of a prospective buyer’s offer are essentially irrelevant to the seller without financial documentation, such as a REBNY Financial Statement. This makes verbal offers impractical for co-op apartments.

Verbal offers are risky for real estate professionals

Many NYC listing agents are hesitant to entertain verbal offers because they are difficult to document. Without a written offer, there is always a risk of miscommunication or dishonesty, which could damage the listing agent’s reputation in the seller’s eyes.

Let’s consider the perspective of a listing agent in NYC. You have listed a townhouse in Bedford-Stuyvesant with an asking price of $ 1.25 million. Therefore, you receive a call from a self-described “investor” who conveys an oral offer that you believe to be $1,250,000. You email this information to the seller, who is excited about the prospect of a full-ask offer and decides to accept it.

When you call the buyer back to inform them that their offer of $1,250,000 has been accepted, the buyer responds, “My offer was $1,050,000. You must have misheard me.” This situation can be incredibly awkward and embarrassing when you have to relay the news to the seller. While it may have been a genuine misunderstanding, there is also the possibility that the buyer is not being truthful.

Regardless of the truth, the listing agent’s credibility with the seller is irreparably harmed in either case.

As a result, most experienced listing agents in NYC are generally unreceptive to verbal offers. When they sense a verbal offer is about to be made, they will typically ask the buyer or their broker to put the offer in writing. This approach eliminates the risk of miscommunication and protects the agent’s reputation.

Verbal offers rarely work out.

One reason why NYC real estate agents dislike verbal offers is that they are often unlikely to succeed.

When a listing agent presents a seller with an offer that ultimately doesn’t go through, it can diminish the agent’s credibility in the seller’s eyes. Despite their reservations, listing agents are required by New York licensing law to present all offers, including verbal ones.

This can be particularly challenging when an agent has to present a lowball verbal offer to a seller, as many sellers react negatively to such offers and may take their frustration out on the listing agent.

In some cases, sellers may even reprimand their agents, instructing them never to present such low offers in the future. However, agents cannot comply with this request, as it would violate licensing regulations that mandate presenting every offer.

In summary, the low likelihood of success for verbal offers makes both sellers and listing agents hesitant to pursue them seriously.

Verbal offers are predatory.

Verbal offers in NYC rarely lead to successful transactions because they tend to be predatory by nature.

A serious buyer would typically want to submit a detailed, written offer, as this approach increases the chances of receiving a favorable response from the seller. This is particularly important when making a low offer, as persuading the seller to consider it can be challenging. Verbal offers are often lowball offers.

Why is this the case?

Buyers who make verbal offers usually aim to capitalize on opportunities with sellers who may not be fully engaged. This might include sellers whose properties have been on the market for an extended period or those asking for prices that are higher than market value, which discourages other potential buyers.

Buyers who employ this strategy often lack the time to submit written offers for every property, as they are primarily playing a numbers game. Because most verbal offers are predatory, sellers and listing agents in NYC generally do not take them seriously.

How to determine your offer price

While verbal offers are generally not a good strategy for homebuyers in NYC, calling the listing agent to hint at an offer price informally can be an excellent way to gather information before submitting a formal written offer. The listing agent’s reaction to your hinted number can help you determine the best starting offer.

For example, let’s say a property’s asking price is $1,000,000, and you believe it is worth $950,000. Before writing your offer, consider calling the listing agent to gather information about potential competition and the seller’s mindset.

During the conversation, you could express interest and suggest that something around $925,000 might be reasonable. Try to encourage the listing agent to do most of the talking.

If the listing agent responds, “$925,000 is a non-starter. We’ve had offers higher, and the seller hasn’t even countered,” you might conclude that starting with an offer of $930,000 would be more effective, even if your maximum number is still $950,000.

Without this information, you might have considered a starting offer of $900,000, thinking that the midpoint between this number and the asking price of $1,000,000 would be $950,000, which is your maximum willingness to pay.

On the other hand, if the listing agent responds with, “Are you financing? How quickly can you close? Please email me your offer, and I’ll present it right away. What was your name again?” you might interpret this as a sign that the seller is likely open to negotiation, even if your initial offer price is in the low $900,000s.

Tags: Buying in NYC

Written By: Georges Benoliel

Georges has been working in Wall Street for the last 16 years trading derivatives with hedge funds. He has been an active real estate investor for over a decade. Georges graduated from HEC Business School in Paris and holds a master in Finance from ESADE Barcelona.

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