Counteroffers, negotiating and reaching mutual acceptance
The seller receives your offer to purchase their home. The two parties enter into back and forth negotiations, each side making counteroffers against the other side’s offer. Ideally, this process will not have too many rounds (2-3 is good) and hopefully remain civilized. The best result is when a consensus is reached and both sides feel like they got a fair deal.
It’s a game of give and take (and maybe even some bluffing) and can be the most nerve wracking part of the home buying (and selling) process. You are so close to getting your dream home and your anxiety levels can sky rocket. If the negotiations are less than smooth, it is important to try to stay calm. Working with a good realtor will help keep you sane and hopefully get the best deal under the prevailing market conditions. Go for a hike on Mt. Rainier, down a couple of fine Seattle microbrews, rent a movie, or all three of them!
When the seller comes back with a counteroffer to your initial offer, they will probably cross out the offer price you entered and write down a new price somewhere between your offer and the actual listing price. They may also come back with some other comments such as “washer and dryer not included”.
The modified sales contract will be faxed back to your Seattle agent, who will review it with you. The dance can end here or go on for another couple of rounds. Avoid nit-picking over minor issues, focus on the major items. Also, avoid protracted negotiations. If the seller gets a better offer from a less demanding buyer, you may not hear back from the seller again and lose out on the home.
All things going well, you and the seller will come to an amicable agreement and reach what is known as mutual acceptance.
And finally we reach the promised land of mutual acceptance
If you really want to know the nitty grity of how offers are handled during negations, here it is but it might make your head hurt…
• A buyer’s initial offer to purchase becomes invalid if the seller does not respond within the required deadline listed on the sales contract.
• If the seller signs the buyer’s offer as-is and the agreement is then delivered back to the buyer within the required deadline, the offer is considered accepted by the seller. This is mutual acceptance.
• However, if the seller comes back with a counter-offer, the buyer’s offer is no longer valid. It is important to remember that a counter-offer is NOT an acceptance. In addition, a counteroffer invalidates the latest offer from the other side.
• If the buyer does not respond within the required deadline, the counter-offer from the seller will expire.
• However, if the buyer then signs the counteroffer from the seller, and the offer is then delivered back over to the seller within the required deadline, the offer is deemed accepted and you have mutual acceptance!
Your objective is to reach mutual acceptance. This means that both sides have signed the contract and wish to move on to the next stage of the process. Now the clock starts ticking and it’s time for you to start getting busy.
