Coldwell Banker Countryside, Realtors

• Over 10 years of real estate marketing experience, and over 18 years property management experience.

• Virtual Tours, Complete Internet Marketing of all property listings which is the best way to market your property to not only local cliental, but potential buyers all over the world.

• Going the extra mile to find you the perfect property, or buyer for your property, No listing or client is too big or too small that they do not get our complete attention!

Receiving an offer
Sometimes the buyer's agent will want to present the offer to you in person, however in most cases the buyer's agent will fax or drop off the offer to your agent. The buyer's agent should have a pre-qualification letter or better yet a pre-approval letter from the buyer's lender along with the offer. At this point you will sit down with your agent to discuss the pros and cons of the offer. You can then come up with a strategy and then decide how to respond to the offer. I would advise against accepting offers without a pre-qualification or pre-approval from a lender.

Countering the offer
When you receive an offer on your home you have three options: Accept the offer, counter the offer, or reject the offer. Obviously if the offer price is acceptable to you and the terms are agreeable, you can go ahead and accept the offer. Perhaps there are a few minor things to change, but basically the offer is acceptable as written. If the price or the terms or both are not acceptable, but the offer is from a serious financially qualified buyer, you will probably want to counter the offer. Your agent will fill out the counter-offer form with the change of terms and price and will have you sign it. Many times the counter offer may be verbal or the original offer may be changed and initialed and sent back to the buyer’s agent. The counter offer process can go back and forth several times until a deal is reached or negotiations break off. Listen to your agent's recommendations and use your common sense and you should be able to come to an agreement with a reasonable buyer.

Low-ball offers
Do not become angry with a low-ball offer. If it is ridiculous you can reject it, but ask your agent’s advice. Many times the most qualified buyers will be the toughest negotiators. Many buyers will write low-ball offers just to start the ball rolling. It's your agent's job to work on the buyer to get them to come up. As always, rely on your agent's advice and experience. Some buyers just prefer to start the negotiations a little on the low side and then work their way up.

Pre-qualifying the buyer
You don't want to accept a contract from a buyer who may not get a loan. This can tie your property up for months and prevent you from selling your home. Your agent must contact the buyer's lender and request a pre-qualification letter. The buyer should have already filled out a loan application and had his credit report pulled. I always check the buyer's credit score, check his income-to-debt ratio, and verify that the buyer has the down payment funds available in his or her bank account. If these check out correctly, chances are that the buyer will get the loan.

Acceptance of the offer
Once all of the contracts, counter-offers, and addendums have been properly signed and initialed, the deal is accepted. After the contract is signed your agent must follow up to insure that all deposits are made in a timely manner and that the buyer gets a final loan approval within the stated timeframes in the contract. Also your agent must follow up and be sure that any remaining contingencies are cleared in a timely manner. Remember, at this point you have a legal obligation to sell the property to the buyer. No other buyer's offer can be accepted even if they submit a higher offer. Between this time and the closing you will have home inspectors, pest inspectors and home appraisers coming to look over your home.