Your Guide to Buying a Home in Marin County


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Offer

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

The Terms.
Most sellers focus on price, financing and contingencies:

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 understands the importance of seeking a win-win outcome with which both parties feel comfortable.
Acceptance - A contract is formed when both the buyer and the seller accepts 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.

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