MONDAY MOMENTS WITH MICHELLE – You’ve Got an Offer for your Home!

Episode 10 - Offer

After having your life disrupted a few times by agents and their buyers over the past few days or weeks, your REALTOR® calls you to say that he/she has received an offer to purchase your home. For simplicity sake, I won’t be going into the logistics of multiple offers or back up offers; just the one offer. Unless you are a long-distance client, your agent will usually present the offer from the buyer’s agent to you in person. Sometimes, the buyer’s agent will want to personally present his client’s offer to you. This is not an unusual practice and your agent will be present as well. The buyer’s agent explains the contract on behalf of his buyers and then leaves the home and awaits your counter offer (if any).

First, your agent will go over the contract with you, page by page, so that you have a complete understanding of the offer. Next, you have 3 choices: you either accept the contract as it is, reject the contract outright or counter offer. The biggest negotiating points are usually money and dates. Sometimes, if the money offered is lower than expected, but the dates work in your favor, you might consider accepting it. Sometimes the money offered is high (and tempting) but the dates don’t line up, you may accept it and then figure out how to work with the time lines offered. There are many scenarios. This is where your agent comes in with his/her super problem solving and negotiating skills!

If the buyer has included subjects in the contract; for example: subject to financing, subject to inspection, etc., they will generally want 10-14 days to fulfill these subjects. Once they have genuinely used all their efforts to fulfill them, their agent will send to your agent a signed Subject Removal document. Your home is now SOLD!  If the buyer has genuinely used all their efforts to fulfill the subjects but, say for instance, they can’t get financing, then the contract is dead and you are back to square one awaiting the next offer. It can often be a nail biting and frustrating process.

Let’s say the buyers removed subjects and your house is now SOLD. Now what? Well, depending on your plans going forward, I’d say that it’s time to get packing! If you had previously decided to purchase after you sold, then it is definitely time to go looking at homes with your agent and hopefully make a smooth transition from home to home with coinciding dates. If your plan is to buy a different property, have a conversation with your realtor before you list about the many options available. Our job is to make your sale and subsequent purchase almost seamless.

There is another step in the offer process for Buyers called the HOME BUYER RECISSION PERIOD. I will go into this at a later date when I talk about the BUYING PROCESS. Stay tuned next week for "I Gotta Guy"! My go-to people for home renovations, repairs, etc.

Feel free to reach out to me regarding this content or to suggest subjects you would like to learn about.

Oh, by the way! I am NEVER too busy for your Referrals, either! Tell your friends!

Have a great week! Definitely call me if you want exceptional real estate service!