Offer Price
What you ultimately are agreeing to purchase the home for. This number is totally negotiable, but the closer the number is to the asking price, the higher probability you’ll get the offer accepted.
Deposit (EMD)
This deposit is usually delivered within 3 days of the offer being accepted. The deposit usually is 1% or higher of the offer price. When competing with other offers, you’d want to make your deposit higher to strengthen the offer. This amount gets applied towards your downpayment at closing or is returned to you should you exit the contract on one of your contract contingencies
Closing Date
This is the date you expect to close. While the time is flexible once you get closer to the closing date, the day should be pretty set. Of course if all parties agree, the closing date can always be changed. But usually it remains the same from start to finish.
Financing Terms & Down Payment Amount
The way you structure your offer can make a big impact on your offer acceptance. Things like whether you are paying cash or using financing, what kind of financing, how much money you’re putting down vs financing, and whether or not you want the seller to cover some or all of
your closing costs makes a big difference in the overall strength of your offer so they’re all things you’d want to consider carefully when putting together your offer.
Contingencies
As a buyer, there are several ways to protect yourself in the home buying process to ensure you’re making a wise decision on your home purchase. There are several ‘outs’ to a contract you can include which are called contingencies. These contingencies mean that as long as X happens, then you will move forward with the purchase. The main contingencies most contracts include are inspections, appraisal, and financing. You could also add various other contingencies such as HOA
approvals or a home sales contingency. Keep in mind the more outs you have to a contract, the less attractive your offer will be to a seller.
