Decide How Much You Will Offer
Your real estate professional will be an expert in preparing, presenting and negotiating your offer. In putting together your offer, consider the following factors:

• What you can afford
• The advertised price of the house
• Prices for comparable houses
• Whether the property is hot or cold
• Whether the house is uniquely valuable to you
• How much you're willing to pay
• The seller's needs

• Price - If your bid is in the range of the seller's expectations, then
  the negotiation process will likely begin. But, if your bid is way out of
  line the seller is likely to reject your offer on the spot unless you
  indicate a willingness to bargain. If there are several bidders, the
  seller normally first looks to see which bids are the highest and then
  focuses on the quality of the offers. Keep in mind that the seller has
  no legal obligation to accept the highest offer.
  
  
• Financing - The seller will evaluate all your financing terms which
  include but are not limited to the loan type, interest rate, deposit
  amounts, down payment size, and the seller will most likely prefer a
  buyer with the strongest financial profile.
  
  
• Contingencies - Offers to purchase property almost always contain
  contingencies. Contingencies are conditions that either the seller or
  buyer must meet (or the other party must waive) before the deal will
  close. Typically, contingencies relate to inspections and financing.
  The seller will be concerned with any difficult or time-consuming
  contingency, such as your need to sell an existing house before
  closing the deal. A good buyer's agent will help you through these
  negotiations.

Negotiating the Purchase
Once you've prepared your offer, your real estate agent will review and present it to the seller so that negotiations can begin.

• Counteroffers - Offers, even very attractive ones, are rarely accepted
  exactly as written. More typically, the seller responds with a written
  counteroffer accepting most of the offer terms, but proposes certain
  changes. Most counteroffers correspond to provisions of price,
  financing, occupancy and contingencies.
  
  
• Win-win outcome - The sale of a home is highly emotional for the
  seller as well as for the buyer. Instead of approaching negotiations
  from a 'grab all we can get' perspective, a savvy negotiator under-
  stands the importance of seeking comfortable middle ground.
  
  
• Acceptance - A contract is formed when both the buyer and the seller
  agree to all of the terms of the other's offer or counteroffer in writing
  within the allotted time. Once your offer is accepted, the property
  goes into escrow with a local title insurance company.