Imagine you’ve found a house you really want, you’ve considered the sales of similar homes in the neighborhood and written a solid offer. Your offer has been delivered to the seller, along with a letter from your lender saying it looks like you can qualify for the loan you need, and your *earnest money. Now, you wait.
There’s a deadline on the Colorado form, by which the seller must respond if they’re going to accept or counter your offer. If they’re not at all interested in your offer, they don’t have to respond at all. That’s very annoying, but there is no contract at this point, they are not obligated to do anything.
But if they sign your offer, congratulations, you are under contract!
If they counter your offer, you are not under contract and there will be a deadline by which you must accept. A counter can be annoying, but if your offer and the counter aren’t too far apart, don’t give up!
If you don’t accept the counter offer, there is no contract and neither you nor the seller have any obligations to each other. However, you could write another offer, maybe meeting the seller in the middle.
Some things the seller might counter:
- Sales price
- Closing date
- Other deadlines, such as inspection objection
- Seller contributions towards your costs
- Amount of earnest money
- Possession date and time
- Pretty much anything in the offer!
Keep in mind that during this offer/counter offer period, the seller may receive other offers. And they would be well within their rights to accept another offer up until the time they’ve been notified that you have signed the counter offer.
You are not under contract until all points are agreed to, and all parties have signed.
Once the contract is signed by all parties, your earnest money must be delivered and you enter the ‘contingency countdown’. I’ll save that for another post!
*It’s common practice in this area to deliver earnest money at a specified date after you’re under contract, but some listing agents like to see a copy of the earnest money check delivered with your offer. I don’t know why, because all it proves is that you can write a check. I think it’s just the way it’s always been done.
(This is the fifth post in a series. See the first post.)
I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those *communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the ‘flavor’ of our community, in case they’re new or moving to the Denver area.
I am a residential real estate agent, happily helping folks buy a house or sell a house in the beautiful and friendly *suburbs northwest of Denver.
*Arvada, Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville, Superior, Westminster; also Thornton, Golden, Wheat Ridge, Northglen, Lakewood
I do tire of writing profiles about myself, I'd much rather talk about you! So please email or call me sometime.
And if you're looking for someone to maybe help you buy or sell a home in the vicinity north of Denver, Colorado and you'd like to learn more about me, visit my website, DreamHouseHunting.com.
If at least a little info would be helpful, I've lived in Arvada since 1993, I've been a licensed, full-time real estate agent since 2001. You can read some past clients' testimonials on my website.
I hope to hear from you soon!
Joetta Fort, Broker Associate
Equity Colorado 
First, let me say I am the author of the post quoted, and I’m jazzed to find my article has been of help to you.
I don’t think it is a law to counter a counter with a new offer rather than another counter, just common practice in Colorado. (But I’m not an attorney, and am not giving legal advice.) If you did do a counter, you wouldn’t counter the counter per se, but you would actually counter your own offer. Include the terms that you’re agreeing to, and add the other terms you want to be different.
The reason, in my understanding, is if you counter a counter that you never signed, it never was part of the transaction. It’s really just a matter of what seems easier to you, and what advice your agent gives. Most agents like to keep things clean, and your lender and the title company will appreciate it too.
However, I wouldn’t wait too long. Depending on the price range, homes are really starting to move around here.
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/real-estate/1548286-counter-offer-really-2.html#ixzz1rsWHTEly