Step #5 — Counters & Acceptance
The easy step-by-step tutorial designed to make home-buyers knowledgeable and confident.
So you have submitted an offer on a property you like, yay! Now you have to wait for the seller’s response. Sometimes, a seller will agree with your entire offer — terms, timelines and all! In that case, lucky you ;) The seller(s) will simply sign the acceptance line of the offer and initial the rest of the pages. Once all T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted, you’ll have yourself a fully executed contract. BOOM!
Next, the seller’s agent will send the executed contract to Escrow who will ‘open escrow’ (this is the topic of next week’s video). Meanwhile, your agent will send the contract to your lender to start the loan process. Don’t forget to have 3% of the purchase price in liquid cash, ready to wire ASAP when escrow opens. This 3% is considered your deposit and will stay safely in Escrow until you release all your contingencies — but that's in the next episode…
Most likely, you will receive some sort of counter. Even if the seller(s) agree to your purchase price, many sellers will have their own terms or conditions that they want to implement into the contract as well. Perhaps they still need to find a new home to live in and require more time to move out of the home than is allowed in the contract. These terms will be conveyed in their counter contract so you can discuss and negotiate towards an agreement. If you are the only submitted offer, this counter process will be between you and the seller directly. In this case, counters will usually continue until an agreement is made, or one of the parties declines the offer because an agreement could not be reached.
In cities like Los Angeles, it is common to be one of several offers being submitted to a single property. When this happens, the seller will respond to all serious offers with a Multiple Counter Offer. This means the seller is countering several people altogether, and whoever can come to an agreement first, or whoever comes closest with the seller’s demands, will receive the acceptance. This can also be called a Bidding War. A common result when there is a lot of interest in one property is that the purchase price raises high above the original asking price. There also tends to be extreme term agreements to make offers more appealing to the sellers such as shortened timelines, giving up terms, and sometimes even giving up contingencies. Again, these are extreme strategies and need to be discussed in detail with your agent to ensure that you are not putting yourself in a precarious situation. Over stretching a commitment during counters could put a buyer at risk of being unable to uphold their side of the contract, and may even result in a loss of the property.
If you get the winning offer (hurray!), both parties sign the acceptance of offer and the clock starts on timelines and contingencies. Now it’s time to prepare your deposit to be wired to escrow as soon as you get the ‘Opening Package’.
Tune into next week to learn all about ‘Opening Escrow’…and one quick question before you go, is this tutorial helping you? I’ve designed this interactive guide to empower buyers, especially if it’s your first-time, as you navigate purchasing a property. I want you to feel like you don’t need to be an expert to understand buying a home. If there is anything I can make clearer, or if you simply have a question you’d like answered in the future don’t hesitate to reach out.
The best way to get a quick response is to comment on the YouTube video featured above or reach out on social media here.
To make sure you don’t miss an episode, you can subscribe to my YouTube Channel. Don’t forget to ‘hit the bell’ so you’ll get all the steps and future tutorials here.
You can also find additional tips, and insights on my Instagram, where I share all the most recent updates on anything and everything real estate.
Looking forward to seeing you again next week!
-Lauren “Glasses” Biedenharn
