Making Counteroffers to the Seller

Negotiating the purchase of a home is like a conversation in writing. The seller opens the conversation by putting a home on the market. The potential buyer answers by making an offer that includes a deadline for answering. The buyer’s offer is rarely accepted as is.

The seller almost always makes the next remark in a counteroffer, which is simply making amendments, in writing, to the original offer. The changes are initialed and sent back to the buyer for a response by a new deadline.

Typically, the seller asks for more money than the buyer first offered because it is assumed you didn’t offer what you could pay.

Perhaps the closing date is not agreeable because the seller has children and can’t move until school is out.

Maybe the seller wants to keep the appliances.

That gas grill you wanted? No way. It was a Father’s Day gift.  As for the bright blue birdbath you asked to keep, dear Aunt Millie made it in her pottery class. You can’t have it.

The buyer now counters, offering more money and agreeing to drop the bird bath and the gas grill. But the buyer really wants the quick closing date and the appliances to stay with the house so keeps them in the amended offer. This time the buyer gives the seller a new deadline for responding.

This back and forth continues until both parties agree. Each side makes concessions. Perhaps the buyer agrees to the seller’s closing date and gives up the appliances.

Seller Financing the Difference

What if both sides agree on everything but the selling price? The buyer desperately wants the home, but is maxed out. A lender will not loan him $5,000 more than he’s already offered.

Is the deal dead? Not necessarily. In some circumstances the seller may be willing to loan the buyer the $5,000, perhaps for a five- or 10-year term at an interest rate agreeable to both parties.

There are documents appropriate for this arrangement. If you are not working with an agent, have an attorney do the paperwork.
 
Buyer's Tip: Counteroffers can be the most creative period of your home-purchase negotiation.   They continue until both sides agree and sign a contract, or until one side or the other decides to walk away from the deal.

Next article: How to Back Down After Signing

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Related Links

• How to Back Down After Signing
• Closing on a House for the Buyer
• Structuring a Seller's Counteroffer