To make an offer on a house, you give the seller a written purchase agreement that lists your price, your earnest money deposit, the contingencies that protect you, your proposed closing date, and a deadline for the seller to respond. Your agent delivers it along with a mortgage pre-approval letter or proof of funds. If the seller signs it as written, you have a binding contract.
What You Need Before You Write the Offer
A few pieces have to be in place before your offer will be taken seriously.
If you’re working with a real estate agent, you’ll sign a written buyer representation agreement first. Since a nationwide settlement took effect in August 2024, agents must have this agreement in place before showing you homes, in person or by live virtual tour. Open houses and general questions don’t require one. The agreement has to spell out exactly how your agent is paid — flat fee, percentage, or hourly — and the amount can’t be left open-ended. It must say broker fees are negotiable and not set by law, and it must stop your agent from collecting more than the agreed amount from any source.1National Association of REALTORS. Homebuyers: What the NAR Settlement Means for You This matters for your offer, because if the seller isn’t offering to pay your agent, that cost has to come from somewhere.
Next, line up proof you can pay. A mortgage pre-approval letter from a lender confirms that, based on your income, assets, debts, and credit, the lender is tentatively willing to lend up to a stated amount. It isn’t a guaranteed loan, but sellers routinely require one.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Get a Preapproval Letter If you’re paying cash, a recent bank statement works instead.
Decide on your earnest money. This deposit, usually 1% to 3% of the purchase price, goes into escrow once the seller accepts. It shows you’re serious. At closing it’s applied to your down payment or closing costs. If you back out for a reason your contingencies don’t cover, you can lose it.
Know your closing cost range before you write anything. These fees — appraisal, title insurance, prepaid taxes, and similar items — typically run 2% to 5% of the purchase price.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Figure Out How Much You Want to Spend Knowing the number tells you whether to ask the seller to cover part of them in your offer.
Choosing a Price
Your agent will usually put together a comparative market analysis, or CMA, showing what similar homes nearby actually sold for — not what they were listed at. Look at how long comparable homes sat before selling and whether they closed above or below list. Both tell you how competitive the local market is.
In a seller’s market with multiple bids on every property, offering at or above asking may be the only way to stay in the running. In a buyer’s market, there’s more room to come in below list. The same CMA is useful later: if an inspection turns up problems, comparable sales support a request for a price cut.
What Goes Into the Purchase Agreement
The purchase agreement — sometimes called a purchase and sale agreement — is the document that turns your interest into a formal legal proposal. Most agents use standardized forms from state or regional real estate commissions or bar associations so the language meets local requirements. Every field becomes a binding term once the seller accepts, so each one matters.
Price, Earnest Money, and the Legal Description
The agreement states your purchase price and the exact earnest money amount going into escrow. It also needs a legal property description — not just a street address, but the lot number, parcel identifier, or other recorded description from public records. Your agent or a title company can pull it. Your lender will rely on these details when processing the loan.
Contingencies
Contingencies are conditions that must be met before the sale is final. If one isn’t satisfied within the time your contract gives, you can walk away and keep your earnest money. The three common ones:
- Financing contingency, which protects you if your mortgage is denied. You’ll have a set number of days to secure final loan approval.
- Appraisal contingency, which lets you renegotiate or withdraw if the home appraises below your offered price. Lenders generally won’t finance more than the appraised value.
- Inspection contingency, which gives you a window — typically 7 to 14 days — to hire a professional inspector, review findings, and negotiate repairs or credits.
Other contingencies are possible too, such as requiring the sale of your current home before closing. Each one protects you, but in competitive markets sellers tend to favor offers with fewer conditions.
Closing Date
The closing date is when ownership transfers to you. It usually falls 30 to 60 days after acceptance, depending on how long your lender needs and how quickly inspections can be scheduled. Deadlines inside the contract — for inspections, financing, removing contingencies — are enforced strictly. Missing one can put you in breach and cost you your deposit.
Fixtures and Personal Property
Anything physically attached to the home is generally a fixture and transfers with the property: built-in appliances, light fixtures, ceiling fans, window blinds, anything bolted or cemented in place. Freestanding items like a refrigerator, portable washer and dryer, or unattached furniture are personal property and typically leave with the seller. Gray-area items cause most disputes: a wall-mounted TV, a storage shed on blocks.
If you want something specific to stay, list it by name in the purchase agreement. The seller should do the same for anything they plan to take. Putting it in writing prevents arguments later.
“As-Is” Clauses
Some sellers list a property “as-is,” meaning they won’t make repairs or offer credits for defects an inspection finds. Agreeing to this shifts the risk of hidden problems to you. It does not, however, relieve the seller from legally required disclosures — they still must tell you about known defects. Courts have also found that an as-is clause won’t protect a seller who actively conceals problems or prevents you from inspecting.
If you’re writing an as-is offer, keep the inspection contingency. You can still have the home inspected and walk away if the results are bad. You’re only agreeing not to ask the seller to fix anything.
Lead-Based Paint Disclosure
For a home built before 1978, federal law requires the seller to disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards and give you all available reports. The seller must also provide a lead hazard information pamphlet and allow at least 10 days for you to hire a certified inspector, unless you and the seller agree in writing on a different window. The contract itself must contain a lead warning statement that you sign, confirming you got the pamphlet and had the chance to inspect.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
Seller Concessions
Your offer can ask the seller to cover part of your closing costs. How much depends on your loan type. FHA loans allow seller contributions up to 6% of the sale price. VA loans allow up to 4%, plus standard closing costs. Conventional loans allow 3% to 9% depending on the size of your down payment. Your lender can confirm the specific limit that applies.
Submitting the Offer
Once the agreement is complete, your agent sends it to the listing agent with your pre-approval letter or proof of funds attached. Most of this happens through secure digital signature platforms that time-stamp every signature, or by formal email. Paper delivery still exists but is rare.
Every offer should include an expiration — a specific date and time by which the seller must respond. If the deadline passes, the offer expires and you’re free to move on. Expiration windows typically run 24 to 48 hours, though your agent can set a different window based on local practice and how fast you need an answer.
Standing Out When Other Buyers Are Bidding
When several buyers are chasing the same house, a plain offer at asking price may not be enough. A few tools can strengthen your bid:
- Escalation clause. This automatically raises your offer by a set increment above any competing bid, up to a cap you specify. For example, you offer $400,000 with an escalation of $5,000 over any rival bid, capped at $430,000. The seller must show you the competing offer that triggered the escalation.
- Larger earnest money deposit. Offering 2% to 3% of the price, or more, signals stronger commitment than the minimum.
- Flexible closing date. Letting the seller pick the closing date, or offering a short leaseback so they can stay in the home after closing, can beat a higher price.
- Fewer contingencies. Waiving or trimming contingencies makes your offer simpler. Be careful here. Dropping the inspection contingency means no renegotiation if problems appear, and dropping the financing contingency puts your earnest money at risk if your loan falls through.
A backup offer is another option when the seller has already accepted someone else. It’s a signed contract that moves you into first position if the primary deal collapses. You deposit earnest money as you would with any offer, and the contract activates if the original agreement fails.
How the Seller Can Respond
The seller has three choices: accept your offer as written, reject it, or send a counteroffer. A counteroffer rejects your original terms and proposes new ones — maybe a different price, a different closing date, or without a contingency you included. You can accept it, reject it, or counter back. The exchange continues until both sides agree or one walks away.
Communication during this phase runs through the agents or attorneys. If you set a 48-hour window and the seller counters inside it, the response clock resets to you, and the counteroffer carries its own expiration.
When both sides sign the same version with no further changes, the document becomes a legally binding contract. Both parties are then on the hook for the terms, subject to any contingencies still in play. Your earnest money goes into escrow, and the transaction moves into due diligence.
When Your Earnest Money Is at Risk
Your deposit is safe as long as you follow the contract and act inside your contingency windows. You’ll get a full refund if you withdraw because of a failed inspection, a low appraisal, or a denied mortgage, provided the matching contingency was in your agreement and you met the deadline. You’re also entitled to the money back if the seller breaches the contract or if a title search uncovers problems that can’t be resolved.
You risk losing the deposit if you:
- Back out after contingencies expire. Once those deadlines pass, the safety net is gone, and changing your mind gives the seller a claim to the money.
- Miss a contract deadline. Failing to complete an inspection, deliver financing approval, or take other required action on time can put you in breach.
- Waive a contingency and run into the problem it would have covered. Waive the financing contingency to sweeten your offer, then lose your loan, and the seller can keep the deposit.
Thousands of dollars usually ride on these dates. Read every deadline in your contract carefully and set reminders. Your agent or attorney can help you track them so you don’t forfeit the deposit by accident.