There are additional items that could be included in the offer. They are often referred to as contingencies. Here are a few examples:
In the event that you are having an inspection conducted, your real estate professional may suggest that you make your offer contingent upon a satisfactory outcome of the home inspection. This gives you the opportunity to withdraw your offer should the inspection reveal an issue that is beyond what you would like to accept or address.
You might decide that you’d like the seller to provide a concession, specifically, assistance with closing cost and pre-pays. In this case, you should be specific about how much that amount should be. While you may not know exactly how much your closing cost and pre-pays will be, I suggest you consult your mortgage professional for a ball park figure. Bear in mind, that when asking for the seller to contribute any monetary concessions, they are subtracting that from the purchase price. For example, if your offer price is $225,000 and you are asking for a $5,000 concession, the seller is going to consider the offer price to be $220,000….THERE’S VALUE IN THINKING LIKE THE SELLER.
In a situation where you’ve agreed to place an over-the-asking price offer, you might want to make that offer contingent upon the appraisal value coming in at or above your offer price….unless of course you’re willing to pay the difference out-of-pocket.
Contingencies can also be a tool to make your offer stand out. If there’s an opportunity to get creative with your offer….GO FOR IT!