Answering the Hard Questions: What's In An Offer Part I

This is one of the biggest questions to answer. To avoid you scrolling endlessly, we'll break this up into two parts. Let's talk offer basics and a few core components:

Price: The most obvious part of an offer is how much you are willing to pay for it, AKA “the purchase price.” Your agent can help you determine what the most competitive and compelling price point will be based on comparable properties in the neighborhood, current market conditions and, ultimately, how much you feel the home is worth to you. This can be below what the seller is asking, at asking, or beyond the current asking price. 

Time is of the essence: This is just a fancy way of saying “reply deadline” for the sellers. Time is of the Essence is the date set for the seller to either a) accept the offer by signing it and returning the fully executed agreement, b) countering the offer with a different price point and/or terms or c) outright denying the offer all together without any counter offer. This exists to protect the buyer and make sure that your hands aren’t tied up in one property for too long waiting for a response when you could be out making offers on other properties! Without this deadline, a seller could hold onto your offer for as long as they want, waiting to see if something better comes along without making any sort of commitment. If you are waiting a week to hear back on your offer and find another property you love almost as much, you are going to want to know if you can make moves. You don’t want to end up with multiple offers out there in case more than one gets accepted and now suddenly you’re under agreement on two homes that you certainly can’t afford (unless you’re rich, in which case… Can I move into one for free?)

Inspections: This is where we elect which inspections you want to get done and the amount of time you will get them done in, also known as “due diligence.” This is a period of time for you to gather important information about the property through various types of inspections. There are plenty of options, including home inspection, sewer scope, termite, deeds, restrictions & zoning, water service, radon, septic, property/flood insurance, property boundaries and lead based paint testing. In general, I recommend at least getting “the big four”: home, termite, radon and property/flood. Inspections can be performed “for informational purposes” which means you have an inspection done to know what you are buying, but you don’t negotiate for repairs or credits afterwards. In some competitive markets, buyers will forgo having an inspection all together. In other cases, you may elect to have a shorter window to have inspections performed to be slightly more attractive to a seller.

And that's it-- you're done! At least until Part II. If you have more questions or want a sneak peek at the remaining components of the offer, consider joining me for my next Home Buyer Workshop or schedule a 1:1 coffee consult!