How To Make The Offer & Get A Rebate – STEP 2 OF 2

Now that we’ve made the offer, what do we expect?

When the offer is accepted:

  1. We verify the contract is valid and legally binding to all parties
  2. You will need to send us the Earnest money deposit for us to deposit into our escrow account. By Michigan law we must have the deposit within 48 hours of acceptance.
  3. INSPECTION: We are off and running! Generally, the first thing to do will be the inspection. You’ll need to hire and pay for a property inspector which may be around $350 – $400. We’ll coordinate a time to have you and the inspector meet at the home to inspect the property. Typically the inspection will take 4 hours as they’ll check every part of the home. It’s critical you attend this so you can see and understand everything about the home. The seller is usually not there.
  4. INSPECTION ISSUES: Most homes will have some inspection issues. You will need to determine if you “Accept” the inspection and the condition of the home. If so then we proceed to the appraisal. If not we need to determine what we want the seller to “Fix” or repair so we are satisfied with the inspection. If there are issues there are several options: 1) Ask the seller for a price reduction and you assume the issues / repairs, 2) Have the seller correct the items in question so we can move on. 3) A combination of both, asking for a price reduction and have the seller fix some of the items in question. NOTE: The inspection results are not meant to renegotiate the offer and put the screws to the seller. It is meant to come to a fair solution to issues at hand.
  5. Appraisal: Once we are satisfied with the inspection we move on the the appraisal. You will have paid a “Pre approval fee” to your lender which usually covers the appraisal fee. Typically, you’re responsible to pay for the appraisal. A local appraiser is contacted, goes out and does the appraisal. This should not take more than a week. It is a good idea to stay on top of your loan officer to prevent delays! You don’t want the ball dropped here and end up with a delay. If the appraisal comes in at or above the agreed upon price you should be able to close without any issues. Just make sure you work closely with your lender to get them any outstanding conditions.
  6. What if the appraisal comes in low? All lenders will base the loan off of the lower of the appraised value or sales price. So… if the home appraises for less than the agreed upon price the appraised value generally becomes the new sales price. SELLER IS UPSET: Obviously the seller will be upset they may not get the agreed upon price for the home. OPTIONS AT THIS POINT: 1) We do nothing and see if the seller will come down. Generally they will not just roll over and take the perceived loss. 2) Seller says, “No way” they are coming off agreed upon price. We will then need to determine if you wish to proceed and ask the appraiser to redo the appraisal if we can find other comparable homes that support the price (appraisers rarely change their stance though…). 3) Find somewhere in the middle to meet. If you do this though you will need to come up with those additional funds as the lender will ONLY LEND on appraised value.

We have a vested interest in getting you the best terms and lowest price for your home. Please feel free to call anytime to discuss any offer situation.

A few things to keep in mind

  • Have a small earnest money deposit.
  • We recommend getting an attorney to review all paperwork.
  • Use contingencies. Contingencies are “way’s out”. In other words, if something goes wrong you want a way to back out of the transaction AND get your earnest money back.
  • We’ll guide you through the home buying process to make it as hassle free as possible.