Here’s What Happens After You Make an Offer to Buy a Property

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If you make an offer to buy a property, it’ll be up to the seller to respond to your offer. Read on to learn what happens during this process. 

When you are buying a house, there are several milestones you have to complete along the way, like getting mortgage pre-approval so you can confirm that a lender will allow you to borrow. But, one of the most exciting steps in the process is putting in an offer, since if it is accepted, you’ll be able to move forward with making a home your own.

If you’re getting ready to put in that all-important offer, you may be wondering what happens next. Here’s what you need to know.

Sellers have a chance to review

After you have made your offer, the sellers will have time to review it and respond to it. You can specify in your offer how long it is good for. For example, you may give the sellers 48 hours to respond.

There’s no guarantee they will necessarily respond in your time frame, but most do because the offer would no longer technically be legally binding if they exceed the deadline for responding to it.

Sellers often do give you an answer quickly, but if there are multiple offers for them to review or if they are waiting for other potential bids to come in, there may be more of a delay.

You’ll get an acceptance, rejection, or counteroffer

After sellers have reviewed your offer, you will get a response. This could be an acceptance, a rejection, or a counteroffer.

If the sellers accept your offer as it is written, you’ll proceed to the next step in the buying and mortgage loan process. If they reject it, then you’ll have to start looking for a new house (or could try again to submit another offer, depending on the reason for the rejection).

If they counter your offer, they’ll send it back and propose different terms such as a different price or closing date. You’ll have to decide if you want to negotiate and come to an agreement or if you want to walk away if you’re too far apart to find consensus.

The good news is, if your offer is accepted, there’s a good chance you’ll end up buying the home. For example, Trulia data from 2016 showed that only about 3.9% of real estate contracts fell through once they were signed.

You’ll make a deposit after you come to a deal

Once you have a signed offer agreement, the next step is to make a deposit — often referred to as an earnest money deposit. This could be for any amount, depending on what you specified in your initial offer contract, but it’s common for buyers to make a $5,000 or $10,000 deposit. This deposit is usually made to a title company, real estate broker, or law firm, depending who will handle the closing.

This deposit shows you are serious and committed. You won’t get it back if you decide to walk away from the sale, unless there were contingencies (conditions) in your contract that weren’t met.

Inspection, appraisal, and a survey come next

Usually, an offer to buy a home is contingent on an inspection, appraisal, and survey. The inspection is designed to reveal hidden problems in the home, the appraisal estimates its market value, and the survey ensures there are no boundary disputes or unexpected issues with the lot the home sits on.

If the inspection, appraisal, and survey all come back without problems, you can move forward. If there are issues, such as major repairs identified in the inspection or an appraisal that comes in too low, you may have to identify fixes such as getting the price of the home lowered. If you can’t resolve the issues, you’d need to walk away.

You’ll get final loan approval and close on the home

Finally, your mortgage lender will review all of your financial details and the appraisal and will move forward with final approval of your loan. You will then go to closing on the date specified in your offer agreement, and money and ownership will transfer.

Then, all that’s left is to move in and start enjoying your new home.

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