Receive an Offer
TLDR: Now that you’ve received an offer, respond by accepting, negotiating, or declining the offer before it expires.
Congratulations! After what has likely been months of hemming and hawing about list price, preparing the house for sale, and calculating what your anticipated proceeds will be, you've finally received an offer! If receiving an offer after all that preparation isn't worthy of celebration, we don't know what is.
Now what? Should you always negotiate? No, not always, especially if you’ve received an outstanding offer that is at or above your asking price. However, if you’ve received a lower offer, or if you’ve received multiple offers, these are appropriate times to negotiate or ask for “highest and best.”
At this point, you have three options: accept, negotiate, or decline their offer. This is your chance to read up on the fine print included in the offer so that there won't be any surprises after you sign the offer. You may decline an offer at any time until both parties have signed the contract.
If you need more time to decide, you can ask the buyer for an extension.
What do I do if I've received multiple offers?
You may continue negotiating with all offerors until you and a prospective buyer have both agreed on contract terms and signed the contract. Note that it is respectful (and appreciated) to respond to all offerors, even those you decide not to accept.
Note that all offers have an expiry date, so make sure you respond to each within the time allotted.
What happens if I don’t want to accept the offer?
Then you can decline it! If the offer is only a little bit off from what you want, you can also try to negotiate with the buyer to come to a better deal, but until the offer is signed by both parties, nothing is stopping you from walking away from a less-than-stellar offer.
What happens after I accept an offer?
After you accept an offer and it is electronically signed by both you and the buyer, you'll move on to Step 3: After Offer Acceptance. In Step 3, there is a checklist of items that have to be completed before you get to the closing table.