The Real Estate Counter Offer

Why - What - When - Where

Before proceeding to read about real estate counter offers, please carefully read the disclaimer here

Why You Use the Counter Offer Form

In many cases as a for sale by owner, you have already come to an agreement in principle and just need to put it in writing.

If you and the buyer have already agreed to all the terms and conditions and there is a change to be made on the offer, the counter offer form makes it all tight and legal.

The counter offer saves writing up a whole new offer.

On occasion, and if acceptable where you live, a counter offer may be as simple as making a small change on the original offer, and all parties initialing the change.

As an example, lets say the buyer's offer was for $273,000.00 but you have been using some of the negotiation skills on this site.

The buyer agrees to buy your house for $275,000.00, which is the value on the certified appraisal.

If that is the only change needed, a simple solution would be to cross out the $273,000.00 write in $275,000.00, everyone initial and be witnessed and march off to their respective legal council.

If it gets more complicated than that, you probably should use a counter offer form.

What Exactly is a Real Estate Counter Offer?

A real estate counter offer is simply an addendum or a change to the original offer.

Everything remains the same as the original offer to purchase with the exception(s) stated on the counter offer.

Some examples of those changes could involve;

* Price

* Dates and times

* What is included in purchase price

* A clause to be removed from offer

When to Use a Counter Offer

You use a counter offer, when you are not completely satisfied with the buyer's original offer.

One big advantage of selling for sale by owner is that, if you have some people skills and of course you follow the program on this web-site :), you can sit face to face with the buyer and put everything into place.

When you are listed with a real estate agent, you have this cat and mouse game back and forth with large chunks of time between offer and counter offer. Sometimes many hours and even days are spent, going back and forth.

When you are listed with a real estate agent, you depend so much on that agent's skills.

If you had me on your side when I was a real estate agent and you were either the seller or the buyer, you would come out a winner every time.

I knew where the weak link was. Because I was motivated by doing the absolute best for my client, instead of motivated by a commission cheque, I always won.

By the way, the weakest link was not the buyer or the seller. The weak link was almost always the other real estate agent in the transaction.

What Should the Counter Offer Say?

The first thing you want to do as a seller when it comes to the real estate counter offer form, is to have a few of the official forms on hand.

The basic wording is already on the form and all you have to do is fill out the rest of the body. Where do you find the real estate counter offer forms? Just click on the following link. Where do You Acquire these Forms

The real estate counter offer form will vary greatly depending on which country, state, province, territory, district etc. you may live in.

As much as I would like to give you the wording of a counter offer form, for the reason stated above, it would be irresponsible for me to do so.

Dollars to donuts, someone, somewhere, would use the exact wording if I posted an example on this site.

The counter offer form will probably include the following:

* A reference to the original offer and the date(s)

* The address of the property (May be civic/legal or both)

* The names of the Buyer(s) and Seller(s)

* The time frame that the Buyer(s) have to accept or reject the counter offer

* A blank body space to write in the changes from the original offer

* Signed by the Seller(s) dated this _____ day of __________, 20___.

* This Counter Offer is accepted by the Buyer(s) this _____ day of ___________, 20____.

* There may also be a space for the Buyer to reject the counter offer

The important thing is to use the form that is generally used in your area. Lets look at a few examples that you might put on a counter offer.

#1. Purchase price shall be two hundred and seventy-five thousand in American dollars ($275,000.00).

#2. The closing date shall be the 25th day of November, 2010.

#3. The kitchen fridge and stove are not included in the purchase price.

#4. The dining room chandler is not included in the purchase price. The seller will have a new chandler installed by a qualified electrician before the closing date. The chandler will be of the buyer's choice and at the seller's expense. The cost of the chandler shall not exceed a price of five hundred dollars ($500.00).

Then of course, if the real estate counter offer form is signed and witnessed by all parties, everyone trots off to their respective lawyers for approval of the written offer and counter offer.

I keep sounding like a broken record here but it's important;

Always include the "subject to lawyer's approval clause" in the offer to purchase. Go here for the clause: Subject to Lawyer Approval Clause

A Word of Caution

Just because you make a counter offer, it doesn't guarantee that the buyer(s) are going to accept the counter.

You may decide to counter back on price and the buyer(s) reject the counter offer.

It is my belief that this is another area where a for sale by owner has an advantage over an offer handled by a real estate agent.

If you have a counter offer to make, you can invite the buyer to sit down with you at the kitchen table, (remember the kitchen table magic?) and put things to rest.

If the buyer shows some reluctance to sign, you can use some of the negotiation skills on this web-site. You may have to give a little but still make a good transaction for all parties.

When a real estate agent is handling the counter offer you may just get the paperwork back with a big rejection signature.

Now what do you do? Yikes! If the real estate agent is really competent, this shouldn't happen....but it does.

Wrap Up

As you can see, the real estate counter offer form is quite easy to use. Just follow these steps.

* Obtain the real estate counter offer form used in your area

* Fill in the blanks such as names, address and dates

* Write in the changes you want made from the original offer

* If agreed, have all parties sign and have witnessed

* Take the offer and counter offer forms to your respective lawyers for approval

That's it. Your done!

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