10 Steps to Home Ownership!
Step 7. Make an Offer
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., working with legal counsel, has developed forms that are appropriate for realty transactions throughout the state of Maryland, many of which are county specific. Such documents include numerous sale conditions and their wording should be carefully reviewed to assure that they reflect the terms you want to offer. We will explain the general contracting process to you as well as our role.
While much attention is spent on offering prices, a proposal to buy includes both the price and terms. In some cases, terms can represent thousands of dollars in additional value for buyers -- or additional costs. Terms are extremely important and should be carefully reviewed.
How much?
You sometimes hear that the amount of your offer should be "x" percent below the seller's asking price or "y" percent less than you're really willing to pay. In practice, the offer depends on the basic laws of supply and demand: If many buyers are competing for homes, then sellers will likely get full-price offers and sometimes even more. If demand is weak, then offers below the asking price may be in order.
How do you make an offer?
The process of making offers varies. In a typical situation, you will complete an offer in the form of a Sales Contract that we will present to the owner's respresentative or the owner directly [in the case of a for sale by owner (FSBO)]. The owner, in turn, may accept the offer, reject it or make a counter-offer.
Because counter-offers are common (any change in an offer can be considered a "counter-offer"), it's important for us to remain in close contact with one another during the negotiation process so that any proposed changes can be quickly reviewed.
How many inspections?
A number of inspections are common in residential realty transactions. They include checks for termites, surveys to determine boundaries, appraisals to determine value for lenders, title reviews and home (or structural) inspections.
Home inspections are particularly important. During these examinations, an inspector comes to the property to determine if there are material physical defects and whether expensive repairs and replacements are likely to be required in the next few years. Such inspections for a single-family home often require two or three hours, and you, as buyers, should attend. This is an opportunity to examine the property's mechanics and structure, ask questions and learn far more about the property than is possible with an informal walk-through.