Who Delivers Your Offer to the Seller?

Are you wondering who delivers your offer to the seller? Well, it depends. If you have a buyer’s agent, he or she will submit your offer to the seller on your behalf. Or, if you don’t intend to hire a buyer’s agent, you can submit your offer directly to the listing agent.

Who Delivers Your Offer to the Seller?

Your agent should be the one who delivers the offer to the seller through the seller’s agent. The agent can provide a hard copy of the offer, or they may send it to the agent via email. Your offer should contain supporting documents such as a mortgage pre approval document or bank statements.

Sometimes, the seller’s agent represents both the seller and buyer. If this is the case, you may submit your offer directly to him or her. However, asking the seller’s agent to work for you as the buyer is not recommended because you may miss the insight and experience that a buyer’s agent has to offer.

Sometimes sellers forego hiring an agent and sell their property independently, in which case either you or your agent would submit the offer to the seller. It should be noted, however, that you as the buyer would have an edge in negotiating the price since you would be dealing directly with the owner/seller. Plus you save money since you don’t have to pay the agent’s commission, which is typically 6% of the sale price.

Delivering the Offer

The process involved in making a real estate offer is straightforward. You’ll need to ensure you have all the supporting documents requested to submit along with your offer.

Supporting documents may include:

• A Bank Statement

You are supposed to submit a copy of your bank statement with your offer. Coop listing agents require that prospective buyers submit a personal bank statement before an offer is ever considered. Condo agents also ask for a bank statement prior to accepting a formal offer.

• Mortgage Pre Approval Letter

Getting pre approval means determining how much money you can borrow from a lender in order to buy a house. This is often driven by your credit score and annual income. If you plan to buy a house with a home loan, you should get pre-approved before you make an offer on a new home. Doing so communicates to the seller that you can afford to buy the house and should be considered a serious buyer. Plus, getting pre-approved can save you precious time during your home search since you already know how much house you can afford, thus eliminating the houses that are out of your budget.

Pre Qualification should not be confused with Pre Approval; Pre Qualification only provides the buyer with the limit of your maximum loan. Pre-approval means the lender is ready to approve the loan once you complete the application. So, getting pre-approval is always better than merely getting pre qualified.

• Proof of Income

If you are paying for the property with cash, you will need to provide proof of funds in place of a mortgage pre-approval letter a bank account statement showing that you have enough cash in your bank account will usually suffice.

• A Letter to the Seller

Buying a home is not just about numbers; it’s nice to give the seller a brief introduction of who you are. Feel free to include information about your background, education, and possibly your occupation to give the seller some insight into who may be buying their house.  Try to make your letter genuine and heartfelt. Explain why you want to buy the property and what you like the most about it.

After you’ve compiled your supporting documentation, consider scheduling a consultation with a real estate attorney to gain a better understanding of the basic terms of your offer.

What Should You Include in Your Offer?

Knowing what you should include in a buyer’s offer is equally as important as who delivers your offer to the seller. A verbal offer can be made in most transactions, but that’s not the case with real estate transactions.

Your offer should also include:

Price: How much are you willing to pay? Who will pay the closing costs? You should include the full offer amount, including tax and sales fees. If you are buying through a home loan, you’ll be required to get an appraisal ahead of time.

Payment Arrangements: How will you pay the sales price? Will it be through a lender? What contingencies will the lender have? Which title agency will handle the transaction? And how long will it take to make the payment?

Contingencies: Are there any outstanding issues that were noted during the home inspection that must be addressed before the transaction? If so, your offer should contain a list of everything that needs to be completed.

Note: In some cases, your official offer may have to be notarized. Seek guidance from your NYC real estate agent or a real estate attorney for additional guidance.

The Post Offer Process

Once you submit your offer to the seller’s agent, the waiting game begins while the seller reviews and discusses the offer. This process can take hours or several days depending on the circumstances of the purchase, how many offers the seller receives, or how much the property is in demand. Sellers just want to make sure that they get the best possible offer.

You can expect one of three outcomes:

• The best possible outcome is that the sellers accept your offer as it is. You can then proceed with finalizing the sale.
• Another possible outcome is the seller may make a counteroffer. Don’t get discouraged if this happens you still have a good chance of buying the property if you’re willing to accept the counteroffer.
• The sellers may decline your offer if they have accepted another one. You can either move on to another property or make a counter-offer.

Final Words

In almost all real estate transactions, you will need to make an offer. Although the offer is one of the more overwhelming parts of the process, that doesn’t mean you should panic.

The great thing about having an agent is you no longer have to wonder who delivers your offer to the seller since they’ll do so on your behalf. Or, if you didn’t hire one, you can submit your offer directly to the seller and avoid paying agent commission.