Making the offer: Follow the instructions below or see the digital form at the bottom. You can submit your own offer if you wish. We will then get it to the listing agent (and c.c. you on all emails).

  1. We will need specific information from you on the property you're interested in and information on you.
  2. We'll use that information to create an offer for you filling in the information (or you can complete the offer & send to us). We will then get the offer to the listing agent.
  3. We'll get the filled in offer form to you for you to review, sign and return to us.
  4. When we have the signed offer back from you I will fax or email it to the listing agent to present it. NOTE: I will also copy you on the email so you can verify we emailed the offer to the agent.
  5. We wait for a response to see if they accepted the offer. Typically though the offer is countered.
  6. We'll decide our "Counter strategy" to determine if you wish to come up and how much to come up.

INFORMATION NEEDED TO MAKE AN OFFER:

  1. Your full name and names you wish to appear on the offer
  2. Your current address
  3. Address of property
  4. Offering price
  5. Amount you wish to put down
  6. An estimated closing date
  7. Any contingencies (ways to back out if need be); inspection, appraisal, attorney approval, pest inspection, Radon are the most common ones
  8. Occupancy, at closing or how many days after closing
  9. Amount of the deposit to hold the home
  10. How long do you want the offer good for? Usually a day or two so it's not hanging out there.

Email me the above and I'll put it together for you! email: jkermath@comcast.net

When the offer is accepted:

  1. We verify the contract is valid and legally binding to all parties
  2. You will need to send us the Earnest money deposit for us to deposit into our escrow account. By Michigan law we must have the deposit within 48 hours of acceptance.
  3. INSPECTION: We are off and running! Generally, the first thing to do will be the inspection. You'll need to hire and pay for a property inspector which may be around $350 - $400. We'll coordinate a time to have you and the inspector meet at the home to inspect the property. Typically the inspection will take 4 hours as they'll check every part of the home. It's critical you attend this so you can see and understand everything about the home. The seller is usually not there.
  4. INSPECTION ISSUES: Most homes will have some inspection issues. You will need to determine if you "Accept" the inspection and the condition of the home. If so then we proceed to the appraisal. If not we need to determine what we want the seller to "Fix" or repair so we are satisfied with the inspection. If there are issues there are several options: 1) Ask the seller for a price reduction and you assume the issues / repairs, 2) Have the seller correct the items in question so we can move on. 3) A combination of both, asking for a price reduction and have the seller fix some of the items in question. NOTE: The inspection results are not meant to renegotiate the offer and put the screws to the seller. It is meant to come to a fair solution to issues at hand.
  5. Appraisal: Once we are satisfied with the inspection we move on the the appraisal. You will have paid a "Pre approval fee" to your lender which usually covers the appraisal fee. Typically, you're responsible to pay for the appraisal. A local appraiser is contacted, goes out and does the appraisal. This should not take more than a week. It is a good idea to stay on top of your loan officer to prevent delays! You don't want the ball dropped here and end up with a delay. If the appraisal comes in at or above the agreed upon price you should be able to close without any issues. Just make sure you work closely with your lender to get them any outstanding conditions.
  6. What if the appraisal comes in low? All lenders will base the loan off of the lower of the appraised value or sales price. So... if the home appraises for less than the agreed upon price the appraised value generally becomes the new sales price. SELLER IS UPSET: Obviously the seller will be upset they may not get the agreed upon price for the home. OPTIONS AT THIS POINT: 1) We do nothing and see if the seller will come down. Generally they will not just roll over and take the perceived loss. 2) Seller says, "No way" they are coming off agreed upon price. We will then need to determine if you wish to proceed and ask the appraiser to redo the appraisal if we can find other comparable homes that support the price (appraisers rarely change their stance though...). 3) Find somewhere in the middle to meet. If you do this though you will need to come up with those additional funds as the lender will ONLY LEND on appraised value.

We have a vested interest in getting you the best terms and lowest price for your home. Please feel free to call anytime to discuss any offer situation.

A few things to keep in mind

  • Have a small earnest money deposit.
  • We recommend getting an attorney to review all paperwork.
  • Use contingencies. Contingencies are "way's out". In other words, if something goes wrong you want a way to back out of the transaction AND get your earnest money back.
  • We'll guide you through the home buying process to make it as hassle free as possible.
​Here is  a State Of Michigan Offer to purchase form. You can use this if you wish or have us prepare one for you.