How do you choose between multiple offers on your Broomfield home?
According to Broomfield listing agent Nick Ahrens, the best offer on your home is not automatically the highest one -- it is the offer most likely to close, on your timeline, at the strongest net to you. Price is only the headline; financing strength, contingencies, deadlines, earnest money, and appraisal-gap coverage decide whether that price actually reaches the closing table. With Denver-metro inventory near a 10-year high and homes averaging about 70 days on market in 2026, a deal that collapses is expensive to replace, so certainty is worth real money.
By Nick Ahrens | August 4, 2026
Nick Ahrens, a Broomfield listing agent with The Apollo Group at eXp Realty, tells sellers that the biggest number on the table is rarely the whole story. Even in a cooler 2026, well-priced homes in Anthem, Anthem Highlands, Anthem Ranch, and Baseline still draw competing offers -- correctly priced Anthem listings routinely go under contract in about two weeks, and Anthem Ranch homes commonly field a couple of bids. The wider metro, though, has tilted toward buyers: inventory sits near a decade high, the typical listing takes roughly 70 days, and the 30-year fixed hit 6.66% in late July, its highest since mid-2025.
That split is the whole reason offer selection matters more now than it did in 2021. If you accept a high but shaky offer and it falls apart, you are not relisting into a frenzy -- you are relisting into a slower market where every extra week on market costs you. So when a stack of offers lands, resist the urge to circle the top number and call it a day. Here is the order I walk sellers through.
Start with your net, not the top-line price
The number on the first page of the contract is not what you keep. Two offers can carry the same price and net you thousands apart once you read the fine print.
Line up each offer's real net proceeds:
Seller concessions and rate buydowns. A $925,000 offer that asks you to pay $15,000 toward the buyer's closing costs or a rate buydown can net you the same as a clean $910,000 offer -- sometimes less.
Commissions and the documentary fee. Colorado's documentary fee runs $1 per $1,000 of price, so about $900 to $1,100 on a typical Anthem-area sale, and up to roughly $1,750 near the top of the local range.
Possession and rent-back. If one buyer lets you stay a week or two after closing while you move, that flexibility has real value -- price it in.
This is why I run a side-by-side net sheet on every competing offer before we talk about which one to sign. If you want to see how the pieces fit, my breakdown of what you actually net selling a Broomfield home walks through each line.
Look at how the offer is financed
Financing is where high offers quietly fall apart. Your job is to judge the strength of the contract, not the buyer as a person.
Cash offers trade a little price for a lot of certainty. They usually close in one to two weeks instead of a month or more, they skip the appraisal, and a Redfin analysis found cash offers are roughly four times more likely to actually close than financed ones. The trade-off: individual cash buyers often come in a few percent under a strong financed offer, so you are weighing money against certainty.
Financed offers are not all equal. Look at the down payment, whether the buyer is merely pre-qualified or fully underwritten, and how responsive their lender is. A 25%-down, fully underwritten conventional buyer is far stronger than a 3%-down pre-qualification letter, even at the same price.
One myth worth retiring: that an FHA or VA offer is automatically weak. FHA and VA loans close in about 40 to 45 days with success rates on par with conventional financing, and a buyer's loan type tells you nothing about them as a person. The National Association of Realtors has warned that brushing off FHA and VA offers on reflex can cost sellers their best buyer, and steers against the veterans and first-time buyers who rely on those programs. Judge the terms, not the label.
When an offer comes in above your list price, check for appraisal-gap coverage. In a market where prices are flat and inventory is high, an appraisal can land below an over-list contract price. An appraisal-gap clause is the buyer's written promise to cover a set dollar amount between the appraised value and the price, in cash, so a low appraisal does not blow up the deal. An offer at $940,000 with $20,000 of gap coverage is stronger than one at $945,000 with none. If you are weighing that risk, here are your options when an appraisal comes in low in Broomfield.
Weigh the contingencies, deadlines, and earnest money
The Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell is a deadline-driven document, and the deadlines are where a seller's risk really lives. When Nick Ahrens compares offers with a Baseline seller, this is the section he reads most closely.
Walk each offer through the calendar:
Inspection Objection and Resolution. Shorter inspection windows get you to a firm deal faster and shrink the opening for a renegotiation.
Loan Objection Deadline. This is usually set 25 to 30 days after the contract is signed (MEC). Up to that date, a financed buyer can typically walk and keep their earnest money if they cannot get an acceptable loan, so a tighter loan deadline lowers how long you sit exposed.
Appraisal and Title deadlines. Fewer and shorter contingencies mean fewer exits for the buyer.
Earnest money is the buyer's skin in the game, and a larger deposit signals commitment. If a buyer defaults for a reason that is not a valid, on-time contingency, that earnest money can become your liquidated damages -- but it is not automatic. In Colorado, the escrow holder cannot release it without written authorization from both parties or a court order, so treat a bigger check as a strong signal, not a guarantee.
Two more levers to keep in your pocket:
Highest and best. If several offers land close together, you can set a deadline and ask every buyer to submit their strongest terms at once. You get their best without the endless back-and-forth.
Backup offers. Colorado's contract lets you sign a backup that slides into first position if the primary deal terminates. A signed backup protects your timeline and quietly discourages the first buyer from nickel-and-diming you during inspection. And you decide whether buyers are even told that competing offers exist -- under the Realtor Code of Ethics, that disclosure is yours to direct, not your agent's to volunteer.
Buyers are getting coached on the other side of this exact table. My guide to winning a multiple-offer home in Broomfield shows the moves your strongest bidders are already making, and because the earnest-money mechanics cut both ways, how earnest money works in Broomfield is worth a read before you counter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to accept the highest offer on my Broomfield home?
No. You are free to accept, counter, or reject any offer for any reason that is not discriminatory. The highest price only wins if it also clears financing, appraisal, and your timeline, and a lower, cleaner offer often nets more and closes with far less drama.
Is a cash offer always better than a financed one?
Not always. Cash gives you speed and certainty and skips the appraisal, but individual cash buyers usually offer a few percent less. If a financed offer is meaningfully higher and the buyer is fully underwritten with a solid down payment, the extra money can outweigh the added risk.
Can I tell the other buyers what the highest offer is?
Only if you choose to. Under the Realtor Code of Ethics, whether the existence or terms of competing offers get disclosed is the seller's decision to direct, and your agent follows your lawful instruction. Many sellers keep it confidential and simply call for highest-and-best instead.
What is a highest-and-best request?
It is when you ask all interested buyers to submit their strongest, final offer by a set deadline. It compresses a bidding war into one clean round and lets you compare offers on the same timeline instead of negotiating each one separately.
What happens to the earnest money if my buyer backs out?
It depends on why and when. If the buyer terminates using a valid contingency before its deadline, they get it back. If they walk for a non-contingency reason, the earnest money can become your liquidated damages, but in Colorado it is only released with written authorization from both parties or a court order.
Picking the offer that actually closes
The highest number feels like the obvious winner, and sometimes it is. But in a 2026 metro where homes sit for about 70 days and buyers hold real leverage, the offer that actually closes -- on time, at a net you can count on -- is worth more than a bigger number that wobbles through inspection and financing. Read the net, read the financing, read the deadlines, then decide.
If you have offers in hand and want a second set of eyes, call or text me at 949-230-3625, or email NickAhrensRealEstate@gmail.com. I will line your offers up side by side, run the net on each, and help you pick the one most likely to get you to closing.
About Nick Ahrens
Nick Ahrens is a Colorado real estate broker with The Apollo Group at eXp Realty, specializing in the Anthem and Baseline communities of Broomfield (80023). With 15+ years in the business and 350+ career closings, he helps North Denver sellers and relocating buyers navigate pricing, timing, and the path to closing. Connect with Nick at youranthemhome.com.
