The Offer

This is not enough space to cover all the possible scenarios when considering an offer. Your agents experience and knowledge will help you decide many of the important decisions at hand in this part of the process.

Real estate contracts must be in writing. Offers are legal documents that are executable and will hold up to scrutiny in a court of law. Although your agent will be able to explain the intent of the wording and your responsibilities under the contract, they are not attorneys and their advice cannot be considered legal in most places, including Washington State.

Contracts are written on approved legal forms provided by the NWMLS. In some cases additional forms may be included specific to your agents company. These contracts detail specific information about the property (ie: legal description, address, tax id #, owner name, and details about your buyer and their finances). You will be asked to consider an offer presented by the buyer’s agent to you and your agent, with a time limit in which this offer will expire, if no action is taken.

One of the items to be considered is the earnest money. Earnest money is money the buyer puts up front to show his/her seriousness in making an offer. In the Washington real estate market, this is usually 3% on the offer price but may be any amount they feel comfortable in presenting. This money is cashed and then held in trust by the broker in a special account and forwarded to the closing agent right before close. There are specific remedies for default on a real estate contract and in many cases the remedies may include forfeiture of the earnest money. Thus, it is imperative you know your rights and obligations before accepting any offer. It is also important that the buyer has provided a sufficient amount of earnest money for you to feel comfortable(within reason) that they are serious about the purchase of your house.

Once an offer is written and signed by the buyer and their agent, the buyer’s agent will contact your agent or broker and either fax, or submit the offer directly to them. In some cases, properties will have multiple offers and the listing agent and you will have certain guidelines for submission and review. Your agent will advise you in this circumstance.

Once an offer is submitted and received certain time constraints will come into play. Time limits will exist for you to provide your response to the offer. Your response may come in several ways. One you may simply accept the offer as written and the transaction will proceed to the next steps and to escrow. You may counter the buyer’s offer and come back with a different price for their consideration or different circumstance concerning the offer (ie: closing date, amount of earnest money, or some other item in the original offer). New time limits will then apply and it will be in their court to decide to accept these conditions or not. If the new terms are accepted, you and the buyer will then proceed forward to close. You may also counter the counter from the buyer until mutual agreement is made or no agreement is reached and the offer is allowed to expire.