Steps for the Offer to Purchase

Buyer

1. Your real estate representative helps you prepare an Offer to Purchase. This offer should include all the details of the sale.
2. You may want your lawyer to look at the offer before you show it to the seller, because it is a legally binding document.
3. your real estate representative or lawyer will then present the offer to the vendor, who will either accept, make a counter offer or reject it.

Seller

A. The seller accepts your offer, the deal is concluded.
B. The seller may make a counter offer, asking for a higher price or different terms. You sign the offer back to the seller with a higher price than your original offer, but lower than the seller’s counter offer. The vendor accepts this counter offer, the deal is concluded.
C. The seller may make a counter offer, asking for a higher price or different terms. If a counter offer is returned to you at a higher price, ensure that you know exactly how much you can afford before you start negotiating. You don’t want to get caught up in the heat of the moment with costs you can’t afford.
You reject the counter offer and decide not to make a subsequent counter offer. The sale doesn’t go through and your deposit is returned.

When you make an Offer to Purchase, your real estate agent or lawyer/notary will most likely add certain conditions to it, making it a conditional offer. This means that the contract will only become final when the conditions are met. The following three conditions are generally standard in the Offer to Purchase, especially for first-time home buyers:

1. A satisfactory home inspection report
2. A property appraisal
3. Lender approval of mortgage financing to finance the purchase

Once these requirements are met, the conditions are removed and the Offer to Purchase becomes final!