After visiting an apartment or a house, you can already have an overview if you like it and if it meets your expectations. If you are convinced of your choice, do not take the risk of another buyer making a proposal to the seller before you. It will then think of making an offer to buy from the seller. For this article, we will focus on the offer for the purchase of real estate.

Offer to buy, compromise of sale and promise to sell

These terms are very different, but it is important to distinguish them if you intend to do a real estate transaction. The offer to purchase is a document that binds only the buyer for the purchase of a house or apartment at the price agreed by both parties.

You can issue this offer of purchase following the visit of the house or following the negotiation of the price. The promise of sale also remains a unilateral commitment document, but for him, it is the seller who agrees with the buyer to sell the property concerned for a certain period of time.

The seller gives the buyer a cooling-off period to accept or reject the sale and must pay a fixed compensation. When your transaction reaches the stage of signing the sales agreement, the buyer and the seller are concerned. For its part, the buyer agrees to make the acquisition and the seller must sell his property at the agreed price.

Obligations with the offer to purchase

Even if you are in a hurry to buy the house or apartment, it will take a step back before embarking on the proposal of your offer to buy.

It will be necessary to see if you will make an offer of purchase oral or written. In the case of a verbal offer, it will take some precautions. If you have to bid on paper, you have to be precise in what you are going to score.

In all cases, you must inquire about the possibilities of retraction and add the suspensive clauses. As soon as you make an offer to purchase, whether verbal or written, you show your willingness to buy the house or apartment at a fixed price. At this point then, you have already found an agreement on the price for the good.

Theoretically, you will not be able to give up the acquisition unless the owner-seller refuses or contradicts your proposal. It is rare that you face a refusal or counter-proposal from the other party because the procedures are long and costly.

Make an oral or written purchase offer

Once you have agreed with the seller on the price, you can consider a formulation of the offer to purchase and two options are available to you: the oral offer or the written offer.

If you still have some doubts about the quality of the property for sale, it is advisable to make a verbal purchase offer. The latter is freer and does not commit you too much. Also note that for its part, the seller can still afford to offer the house or apartment to another potential buyer.

If you value good and you are convinced that it meets all your expectations, you can make a written offer to purchase. This document is a true legal act and the obligations are more real. If the seller accepts this offer, you will not be able to go back and you will have to buy the house or apartment.

Writing an offer to purchase

If you have chosen to make an offer to purchase in writing, this document must contain certain information and information. You must clearly note the purchase price, the description of the property concerned and the duration of the validity of your offer, which is usually between 5 and 10 days.

Over this period, the seller must decide if he will accept or reject your offer. If it does not decide on this period, you must clearly state in the written offer that the offer will be canceled.

Remember also to mark the modalities of an answer if this must be done by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt or by an usher. You already know how you will buy your future home, but the seller must be informed.

You must indicate in this offer to buy if you are going to buy the house for a loan or with your personal contribution. It should be noted in this document that the sale will not be final until the signing of the preliminary contract.

If you are not very comfortable writing or if you do not have a lot of time to make a written offer to purchase, you can easily find standard letters on the internet.

You can get inspiration from the models that we offer, but you can also take a model and change the elements according to your offer and information on the property. Even if there are ready-made letters, pay special attention to suspense clauses.

Insert suspensive clauses

If you want to have the property, you can still make an offer to purchase in writing but must add to the elements mentioned in suspensive clauses. These may allow you to cancel the sale if you encounter problems such as obtaining your mortgage.

It can also happen that after evaluation, the amount of work to be done in the house is important and this is not included in your budget. In this case, you can then cancel the sale, but do not forget to mention these situations in suspensive clauses.

Check This Out: How To Make An Offer To Buy Real Estate?

The possibilities of retraction

If you have found a nicer house or a cheaper apartment, you can retract your offer to purchase. In this case, three possibilities may arise.

In case the owner has not followed up on your offer to purchase, you can retract. The offer is also canceled if the seller has not answered you within the time you gave him or if he answered you with a refusal.

If you receive a counter-offer in writing from the seller, the offer you have made becomes void.

Precautions to take before engagement

As the responsibilities and commitments only concern the buyer for this offer to purchase, you must take the necessary precautions to cover yourself.

This document, once signed, cannot be modified anymore. Make sure you have not given the owner an eternal time to think: ten days are enough to accept or reject your offer.

For suspensive clauses, use a real estate agent to advise you if you do not have specific ideas on what you will put in your offer. If the seller is in a hurry to sell his apartment or house, he should not yet ask you for money at this point.

If you, on your side, also want to be sure that he is not offering the apartment to someone else, you should not pay him any money.