To counter offer on a house as a seller, you reject the buyer’s offer and send back a revised version with the terms you want: a new price, adjusted deadlines, different contingencies, or whatever else needs to change. It’s done on a standard counteroffer form that references the original purchase agreement, carries a firm expiration, and is signed and delivered to the buyer or their agent before their offer lapses. The important thing to understand before you start: the moment you counter, the buyer’s original offer is legally dead.1Cornell Law Institute. Counteroffer You can’t change your mind later and accept it. So the terms you put on the counter need to be ones you’d actually sign.
Evaluate the Offer Before You Counter
Three things tell you whether the offer is worth countering and what number to counter at.
First, a comparative market analysis. This pulls recent sales of similar homes, usually within the last three to six months, and gives you a defensible baseline. If you plan to counter above the buyer’s price, comparable sales are the clearest way to justify it.
Second, the buyer’s financing. A pre-approval letter is stronger than a pre-qualification letter: pre-approval means a lender has actually verified income and assets, while pre-qualification may rely on information the buyer self-reported.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What’s the Difference Between a Prequalification Letter and a Preapproval Letter? For a financed deal, ask for proof of funds for the down payment, typically bank statements showing enough liquidity. Required down payments range from roughly 3.5% for an FHA loan up to 20% or more for a conventional loan without private mortgage insurance.
Third, a seller’s net sheet. This estimates the cash you actually walk away with after your remaining mortgage balance, agent commissions, title insurance, transfer taxes, and other closing costs. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, agent compensation is fully negotiable, and offers of buyer-agent compensation can no longer appear on MLS listings, so your total commission cost depends on what you negotiate with your listing agent and whether you offer anything toward the buyer’s agent fee.3National Association of REALTORS. What the NAR Settlement Means for Home Buyers and Sellers The net sheet tells you the lowest sale price you can accept without losing money or being short at closing.
Decide Which Terms to Change
Price is the obvious lever, but it’s one of several. Each of the following can shift the real value of the deal.
Sale Price
Your counter usually lands somewhere between the buyer’s offer and your list price. If comparable sales support a higher number, say so in the counter. A data-backed price is harder to argue against.
Earnest Money Deposit
Earnest money deposits run roughly 1% of the purchase price in buyer-friendly markets up to 3% or more in competitive ones. Countering for a larger deposit means the buyer has more at stake if they walk away without a valid contingency. The deposit sits in escrow and gets applied to the buyer’s closing costs or down payment at settlement.
Closing Date and Inspection Period
Mortgage-financed closings average 30 to 45 days. Counter with a later date if you need time to relocate or line up your next purchase; counter with a shorter one if you want speed. Put a specific date on the form. Vague language like “approximately” invites confusion later.
You can also tighten the inspection contingency. Many agreements default to 10 or more days. A five-to-seven-day window compresses the timeline and reduces the chance of a drawn-out renegotiation over repair requests.
Contingencies
An appraisal contingency lets the buyer cancel if the appraisal comes in below the contract price. You can counter by removing or limiting it, or by asking for an appraisal gap clause: a written commitment that the buyer will cover the difference between the appraised value and the contract price up to a stated amount, in cash at closing.
If the buyer’s offer includes a home sale contingency (they need to sell their current home first), consider countering with a kick-out clause. That provision lets you keep marketing the property. If another buyer makes an offer, the original buyer typically has 48 to 72 hours to remove their contingency or you can terminate and accept the new offer.
Seller Concessions
Buyers sometimes ask you to cover part of their closing costs. Rather than refusing outright, counter with a specific dollar cap. Conventional mortgage guidelines limit how much a seller can contribute based on the buyer’s down payment: 3% of the sale price when the buyer puts down less than 10%, 6% between 10% and roughly 25% down, and 9% at 25% down or more. Contributions above those caps have to be deducted from the sale price for underwriting purposes, which can create appraisal problems.4Fannie Mae. Interested Party Contributions (IPCs) If the buyer asks for more than the applicable cap, counter with the maximum allowed and raise the price if you need to balance the math.
Rent-Back
If you need to stay in the home after closing, counter with a post-settlement occupancy agreement, also called a rent-back. You become a temporary tenant of the buyer. Spell out the exact start and end dates, the daily rent (often the buyer’s new mortgage payment divided by 30), a security deposit held by the closing agent, and a per-day holdover penalty if you stay past the end date. Keep the period short. Many lenders restrict post-settlement occupancy to 60 days or fewer.
Fixtures and Personal Property
Anything physically attached to the home (built-in shelving, ceiling fans, a mounted TV bracket, the water heater) is generally a fixture that transfers with the property. Freestanding items are personal property you keep. If you want to take something that could be mistaken for a fixture, like a custom chandelier, call it out in the counter. If the buyer wants specific personal property included, your counter should state whether you agree.
Write the Counter on the Form
Most counteroffers use a standard form from your state or local real estate association. The form has to reference the original purchase agreement, usually by its date and the full property address, so there’s no confusion about which deal is being modified. Every term you’re changing gets written in clearly: the new price, revised dates, adjusted deposit, added or removed contingencies. A standard clause at the end confirms that everything in the original offer stays in effect unless the counter specifically changes it.
Set a firm expiration. Giving the buyer 24 to 48 hours to respond keeps momentum and prevents you from being tied up while other interest cools. Sign and date the form with a time stamp so there’s no later dispute about when it was issued. Leave the buyer’s signature line blank. That line is where acceptance happens.
One boundary to watch: if your home was built before 1978, federal law requires you to disclose known lead-based paint hazards and give the buyer a 10-day window to conduct a lead inspection before they’re obligated under any contract.5eCFR. 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F – Disclosure of Known Lead-Based Paint Hazards Upon Sale or Lease of Residential Property You can agree in writing to shorten or lengthen the window, but you can’t eliminate it unless the buyer waives it in writing.6US EPA. Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards Don’t let your counter inadvertently override it.
Deliver It
Once you sign, the counter needs to reach the buyer or their agent before your deadline expires and before the buyer’s original offer would have expired. The usual delivery method is an electronic signature platform like DocuSign or Dotloop, which provides a timestamped record of when the document was sent and opened.
Electronic signatures carry the same legal weight as handwritten ones under federal law. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act provides that a contract cannot be denied enforceability solely because it was signed electronically.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7001 – General Rule of Validity Physical delivery to a real estate office still works but is less common. Whichever method you use, confirm the buyer or their agent actually received the document. That confirmation starts the clock on their deadline.
Revoking a Counter Before It’s Accepted
You can withdraw your counter any time before the buyer signs it. Revocation is effective the moment it reaches the buyer or their agent, by phone, text, email, or any other clear communication. Once the buyer has accepted and communicated that acceptance back, the deal is binding and you can’t pull it back.
Written revocation isn’t legally required in most jurisdictions, but a phone call is hard to prove if a dispute comes up later. Put it in writing when you can. If your agent has a standard withdrawal form, keep a signed copy.
What Happens After the Buyer Gets It
Your counter completely voids the buyer’s original offer. You can’t go back and accept the first proposal if the buyer declines your counter.1Cornell Law Institute. Counteroffer Three things can happen from here:
- The buyer signs and returns the counter without changes before the deadline. A binding contract forms immediately, contingency clocks start, and the buyer must deposit the earnest money within the timeframe stated in the agreement.
- The buyer declines outright. Both sides walk away with no further obligation.
- The buyer modifies your terms and sends their own counter back. That voids your counter, and the cycle restarts. Each new counter replaces the one before it entirely.
If the buyer doesn’t respond at all by the deadline, the counter expires on its own. Neither side is bound. The buyer’s original offer was already voided when you countered, so it doesn’t come back. If both sides still want to negotiate, someone has to start fresh with a new written offer.
If You Have Multiple Offers
With more than one offer in hand, you can counter one and set the others aside, counter one and reject the rest, or ask all buyers to submit their highest and best by a deadline.8National Association of REALTORS. A Buyers’ and Sellers’ Guide to Multiple Offer Negotiations Be careful about countering more than one buyer at the same time. If two accept simultaneously, you could end up in two binding contracts.
If you reject an offer but still want that buyer as a fallback, you can accept a backup offer. A backup is a fully signed agreement that activates only if the primary contract falls through. The backup addendum should state clearly that it becomes effective only on written notice from you that the primary deal has been canceled, and it should include an expiration (often 15 to 30 days) so the backup buyer isn’t waiting indefinitely.
Your listing agent may be allowed to disclose that competing offers exist if you authorize it, which can push bids higher. Some states restrict what can be shared, so follow your agent’s guidance on local disclosure rules.