You Made an Offer on a House: What Comes Next?
You finally found your dream home. After an exhausting search, spending many hours racing other buyers for the right to look at houses, you found a house you want to make an offer on.
Now you have to spend time putting together a proper offer for the market and the home. In an extreme seller’s market you may be competing with other buyers, so you may have to bid at or above the asking price. In an extreme buyer’s market you can usually offer less than the asking price.
After you have submitted your offer, you are waiting to hear back from the seller. One of three things can happen. Your offer can be rejected, your offer can be accepted, or the seller could counter your offer.
Your offer is rejected:
If the seller doesn’t think what you offered is a fair price, they might reject your offer flat out. Most of the time you are too far apart on price to continue the negotiation and you should move on. If you think there is room for you to increase your offer and still be happy, you can submit another offer.
If the seller counters your offer:
If your offer is countered, you will have a chance to negotiate with the seller to find a price that you both agree on. This process can go back and forth until you come to an agreement, or one party decides to walk away from the deal.
Offer is Accepted:
Time to be excited! You and the seller have agreed on a price and it is time to get the process going.
Below is a list of items to check off after your offer is accepted:
Get your financing in order:
If you have a pre-approval, this will make things go faster. Next, you need to work with your lender on the mortgage for your home. The lender will help you with the overwhelming paperwork.
During this process you will have to have a licensed appraiser appraise the house to make sure it will qualify for the mortgage you are working on. Your lender will let you know when this needs to be done.
Have the home inspected:
You need to have the house inspected. Different states have different requirements, but regardless it is a good idea to have the house inspected. After the inspection you will get a report stating their findings. Depending on what the inspector finds, you may ask the seller for some concessions, to fix something, or you could even walk away.
Find homeowners insurance:
Most lenders require a buyer to have signed up for homeowner’s insurance before they will approve your loan. You should make sure you shop around and try to negotiate with the different insurance companies.
Move toward closing:
During this process, the lender will be working on your loan. Depending on what state you are in, you may have to have a real estate attorney handle your closing documents. Most of the work at this time is behind the scenes and will not directly involve you. In many states, a title company will be making sure that there is a survey or you will have to have one done.
During this time you should not make any large purchases. A large purchase at this time can mess with your credit. When everything is finally approved, it is time for you to go to closing and purchase your home. Good luck and enjoy your new home!