Step 7 - Making Offers and Negotiating
What to do if your offer is accepted versus if your offer is rejected
(a) Offer is accepted
First of all, congratulations in advance!
As soon as your offer is accepted you need forward this to your conveyancer and ask that they review the contract of sale as soon as possible if they haven’t already. I would also give a heads up to your mortgage broker on the price and agreed finance condition period.
Noting that time is of the essence in this scenario, your offer technically means nothing until it is formalised into a contract of sale and executed by all parties.
If you picked a good conveyancer they will know this, but you should be reiterating that you need the contract reviewed asap - it really shouldn’t take them more than a few hours to do this, at max one business day.
(b) Offer is not accepted
If your offer has not been accepted, then if possible you can improve your offer in accordance with the strategies and information I have outlined in this Step 7.
However, if you lose out on the property entirely it is important you don’t get frustrated and give up - this will happen on your journey and it will happen multiple times. There are plenty of good deals out there, the property you missed out on is not the last good property in the suburb.
What you want to do instead is ask the agent for feedback on why your offer was not accepted and thank them for their time over the course of the negotiation. You must remain respectful here, do not be rude to the agent. Because you should then tell the agent that you are still very keen to purchase in the area and if they could please keep you in mind for future opportunities. This will improve your relationship with the agent and increase the chances of you getting an off-market opportunity in the future.
There is also a slim chance that the winning bidder pulls out of the sale, in which case if you keep a positive relationship with the agent they will be more likely to contact you first as the underbidder.
Remember you NEED a fully signed contract of sale!
I have said this before, but I will reiterate it again before we move on just so it is 100% clear - your accepted offer means nothing until it is formalised into a contract of sale and signed by the seller and the buyer. So it is vital that you work with your conveyancer to get the contract of sale finalised and signed as soon as possible after your offer is accepted.