A REALTOR® can help you make just the right offer
No one is an expert for all occasions. I want a chef to make an elegant dinner and a physician to set a broken bone – not the other way around. And I don’t want any chef or physician offering real estate advice.
A REALTOR® has many area areas of real estate expertise. One of the most critical is making an offer on a home.
So, let’s get into the fine points. A written proposal, or Purchase and Sales Agreement, is the foundation of a real estate transaction; oral promises are typically not legally enforceable when it comes to the sale of real estate and are vulnerable to selective memory – or selective amnesia. As a buyer, you need to enter into a written agreement, which starts with your written offer on a property.
This offer specifies not only price but also all the terms and conditions of the purchase. An offer is typically accompanied with a cash deposit, which is called earnest or trust money. The listing company usually holds the deposit and in some cases the closing agency; if the sale is ultimately completed, it is credited to you at closing.
REALTORS® have designed standard forms (including Residential Purchase Agreements) that are kept up to date with the changing laws. When you use a REALTOR®, these forms will be available to you. In addition, REALTORS® bring negotiation skills to help guide you through the process, which is something many buyers report after a sale as one of the most valuable services their REALTOR® provided to them.
Contingencies – If your offer says, “this offer is contingent upon (or subject to) a certain event,” you’re saying that you will only complete the purchase if that event occurs. Common contingencies include the sale being dependent on the buyer selling their current home or the buyer obtaining specific financing from a lending institution.
The Seller’s Response to Your Offer – You look appealing to a seller if you’re an all-cash buyer, and/or you’re already pre-approved for a mortgage, and/or you don’t have a present house that must be sold before you can afford to buy. You will have a binding agreement if the seller, upon receiving your written offer, signs an acceptance just as the offer states.
If the seller likes everything except the sale price, or the proposed closing date, or the pool table you want left with the property, you may receive a written counteroffer with the changes the seller prefers. You are then free to accept or reject it or to even make your own counteroffer.
Each time either party makes any change in the terms, the other side is free to accept or reject it, or counter again. The buyer and seller can arrive at any agreement they want about who pays any related costs beyond the agreed-upon selling price. The document becomes a binding agreement only when one party finally signs and returns an unconditional acceptance of the other side’s proposal.
Real estate transactions come with their own language. Fortunately, your REALTOR® is the perfect translator.