Let’s Make an Offer!
First-time home buyers may not be familiar with what “an offer” looks like.
In simplest terms, the writing of an offer is officially called an Oregon Residential Purchase and Sale Agreement. In Oregon, it happens to be combined with what’s called a Final Agency Acknowledgement. Why they are together in the same document is anybody’s guess (more on this later).
Sometimes referred to as an RSA, it’s an 11-page, 516-line document that relays the buyer’s purchase proposal and specifies a time period (generally 24-72 hours) in which the owner/seller must accept the conditions before the buyer’s offer expires.
So here’s an example…
Click here: SAMPLE RSA
This document is prepared by your agent and sent to you to review and sign. Upon receipt of your signed offer, your agent will review and immediately(!) send it along to the seller for their consideration. Generally all signing is done digitally. It’s a highly secure, very fast and easily verifiable method. In some cases, wet-signing (pen & paper) may still used.
Upon receiving your offer, the seller will have 4 options:
- Accept your offer as written
- Reject the offer outright
- Reject–but counter-offer with a different price and/or different terms
- Ignore it–which is obnoxious, but technically the same as rejection
It is this document which will serves as the primary contract for the purchase, and will be the foundation upon which the entire transaction is based.
Additional documents (disclosures) will accompany the RSA. Other documents (addenda) may amend the RSA. But simply put, in Oregon the offer is the sale agreement.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the buyer’s offer being written carefully and professionally, in such a manner that
- Allows no room for uncertainty or alternate interpretation.
- Protects the buyer’s best interests, explicit or implied.
- Unabashedly & plainly favors the buyer in all respects.
- Includes every aspect of the agreement–if it’s not in writing, it simply doesn’t exist.
This is a very simplified and incomplete overview.
Your licensed, bonded, and certified REALTOR®–that’s me–will go into far more detail with you in-person.
Call me at (541) 285-2970
Or stop in the office to say hi at 1600 Oak Street, Eugene, OR 97401
Just drop by and add to the bustle. Bottled water’s cold & the coffee’s great.
