When you find a home that you want to buy, your real estate agent will help you write up an offer to the seller of the house. When the seller receives the offer, he or she could accept or reject the offer, but in most cases, sellers will counter the offer. A counteroffer is simply a way for a seller to say they are not turning your offer down but are changing some of the things you offered. Here are three things a counteroffer might include.
A change of price
When a seller prepares a counteroffer, he or she can make different types of changes to the offer you made, and one of these is a change of price. If you, for example, offer $140,000 for the house, the seller might return a counteroffer that asks you to pay $144,000. If you receive a counteroffer, you do not have to accept it if you do not want to, and you should always read through every line on it to make sure you understand fully what the counteroffer is saying. If you do not want to pay the price the seller placed on the counteroffer, you could reject the counteroffer, or you could prepare a counteroffer for it.
A change of contingencies
Secondly, the seller might ask for a change in some of the contingencies. For example, if you asked the seller to replace the bathtub in one of the bathrooms, the seller could counter this by saying he or she will not do this but will give you a $500 credit to do the work yourself. Sellers can counter any contingencies you include on the offer you write up.
A change of fees and responsibilities
Sellers also have the right to counter fees and other types of responsibilities. If you asked the seller to pay $4,000 of your closing costs, the seller might change this to $2,000. In this example, the seller is agreeing to pay $2,000 towards the closing costs instead of the full $4,000 that you are asking for. Sellers may also counter other types of fees you are asking them to pay.
When you receive a counteroffer from a seller, make sure you read it through very carefully and compare the words in it to the offer you wrote. You should also talk to your real estate agent about the counteroffer to make sure you fully understand it.
Share25 September 2018
When I started looking for a new house a few years ago, I realized that I had no idea what I really wanted. I knew that I wanted a place that had been updated recently, but apart from that, I was completely in the dark. After evaluating my budget and considering my options, I decided that it would be a good idea to go around with my real estate agent to help me to find a place. My agent was incredibly helpful, and I was able to narrow down my choices within a few hours. This blog is all about making the ever-important decision of becoming a homeowner.
