Negotiating The Offer

You're a buyer in the midst of negotiating an offer with a seller. All of a sudden, - the seller has accepted another offer from a different buyer!

Your might be questioning- is this even legal? After all, your offer or counter-offer to the seller gave the seller 24 hours to accept your current offer.

Let us review the negotiating issues involved. A seller is under no obligation to accept your offer or counter-offer. A seller is free to review and accept any offer from any buyer. It an offer comes along, from a new buyer, the seller is free to accept that new offer- even if the seller had been in the middle of negotiations with you. As a matter of fact, the laws require the listing Realtor to present all offers to the seller, up to the date of closing.

A counter-offer is regarded as a brand new offer that the seller does not have to accept. Even if you and the seller agreed to most of the term of the purchase, any change in the offer- such as a counter-offer- makes the original offer void.

If this happens, most likely you will never know why the seller accepted the other offer. It could be the new buyer came in with a higher price, put up more earnest money, had fewer contingencies. Or perhaps the seller no longer became frustrated and no longer wanted to go back & forth in negotiations with you offer.

If the house you're making an offer on, is one that you absolutely don't want to lose, then it may help if your prioritize what you really want in the offer. Know which issues are most important for you to win as well as which issues you're willing to give up.