Generally when dealing with multiple offers the highest price wins, right?  I would have to say it's normally a good rule of thumb, but it isnt always the case - at least when it comes to Edmonton home buyers and sellers. 

At the height of the frenzied multiple offer market during the summer of 2006 we had 17 offers on one property.  You could literally sort the offers into tiers.  The really high ones, the good ones and the ones not worth looking at. In the end we had one offer that was about $5000.00 lower than the highest offer but the sellers chose it because:

• The buyers agent. This can be vital for buyers as their agent helps to convey credibility in them.
• The deposits.  The total deposit was significant enough that it actually made the sellers jaws drop. When every offer is coming in without conditions you want to be certain that not only can your buyer afford the property, but that they wont back out before closing.

So recently when dealing with multiple offers I shouldn't have been surprised when the seller faced with two offers took a lower offer ($5000 lower which is pretty significant on a 200,000 property).  The seller was an executive with a major canadian corporation and was buying a property in Vancouver; a significant deposit was more important than than a higher selling price because it offered more security.

It became even more clear that the deposit was critical a week later when I listed her co-worker's home. It just so happens they were both in Vancouver the day we got the multiple offers. The co-worker relayed her experience from years earlier when the buyer walked away from the contract, leaving behind their $1000 deposit. Her lawyer advised that while she could go after the buyer it would probably be easier just to find another buyer. This story convinced my client that the offer with the significantly higher deposit was the way she wanted to go.