Making a Counteroffer

In most cases, the original offer made by a buyer is less than the original asking price. Therefore, you are likely to make a counteroffer in response to that offer. When writing a counteroffer, you are rejecting the buyer's first offer while making concessions of your own. For example, you may counteroffer with the original asking price, but you might throw in a home warranty as part of the offer. Or, you may lower the price by only a fraction while also offering to cover all of the closing costs.

There are thousands of ways to structure an offer and counter offer. Again, this is a point in the process when the real estate attorney you hired should look over the paperwork to ensure it is properly completed.

Handling Multiple Offers at Once

TIf you have received multiple offers, be sure to let all of the buyers know there has been more than one offer made on your home. Include this information in the counteroffer paperwork. Notifying buyers of multiple offers puts pressure on the buyer to offer the best terms when making an offer.

Ideally, you should finalize one offer before moving on to another. After all, you can only sell your home to one party and having multiple counters out at the same time can become confusing to everyone involved. If you want to be sure to keep your options open, however, specify in your paperwork that the buyer's acceptance of the counteroffer does not necessarily mean the sale is final. This way, you can review all of your offers before deciding who to sell the property to.

When reviewing offers and counteroffers, keep in mind that the offer with the highest price is not necessarily the offer that will provide you with the largest profit. This is because your profit margin can be greatly affected by other aspects of the offer. For example, if you have to pay the closing costs with one offer, these costs could be thousands of dollars. Furthermore, some counteroffers may include a contingency that allows the buyer to wait to purchase the home until after he sells his current home. This could result in a loss of money on your part while also significantly slowing down the closing process. Take all of these factors into consideration when determining which counteroffer to accept. With multiple offers in play, the engagement of an attorney would be very helpful.