Home Selling: Step 5 - Negotiation of Terms

After we receive and review the offer(s) you have three choices: Accept, Reject or Counter.

If everything meets your expectations you can accept the offer and we will start escrow.

If the offer is so far off base as to not warrent even a counter offer, you can reject it outright. I will call the agent that submitted the offer and thank him for his efforts and invite him to submit another offer.

And when an offer is somewhere in between, you can counter the offer with a Counter Offer.

Some good articles on Counter Offers:
Counter Offers - All About Real Estate Counter Offers
How To Succeed With Counter-Offers

This is where I add some of the most value in the entire transaction.

Always consider carefully any Counter Offer. Once a Counter Offer is submitted, it is a new contract!

The "Regular" Counter Offer:

You may counter for any of a thousand reasons. Many have little or no material impact on the buyer monetarily, but will deal with contractural items that strengthen the likelyhood of the deal actually closing. You do not want to wait 30 days to find out if a buyer is serious or not! We can also counter for a higher price or both. A recent offer made by our buyers received a counter offer from the seller with a long list of items. I almost had a heart attack when I first saw the faxed counter offer. But they were all contractual items that did not affect anything financially. After I explained each item to the buyers, they happily signed the counter offer are looking forward to closing on their new home soon.

(Click here for Counter Offer)

 The Multiple Counter Offer:

This is when you receive mutliple offers on your property and you counter two or more of the offers. You can counter in price, terms or both. The counter offer (in all forms) is technically a new contract. But, Buyers can:             1) walk away and not accept or exceed the terms of the counter offer              2) they can meet the counter offer at the terms stated in the counter, or              3) or they can offer a lower or higher price and/or better or worse terms. Each property, offer and situation is so different that you will probably do one thing in one circumstance and another thing in another situation. We will always give you all the information and data you need to make the best decision possible.  And we will negotiate to success for you in all matters.

(Click here for Multiple Counter Offer)