Offer and Acceptance of a Standard Residential Purchase Contract in Pittsboro, Chatham County, and the NC Triangle

The purchase contract is the most important document in any real estate sale. It must reflect the entire agreement between the buyer and the seller.

“Offer” and “Acceptance” are the process by which a buyer and seller create a binding legal contract. This process typically begins when a prospective buyer makes an offer. Then, the seller either accepts it, rejects it, or rejects it and makes a counter offer. The buyer then has the same options (accept, reject without making a counter offer, or reject with a counter offer). When one party accepts the other party’s offer or counter offer, and communicates that acceptance to the offering party or that party’s real estate agent, a purchase contract is created.

Any misunderstandings concerning offer and acceptance can result in serious legal and financial consequences for the buyer and seller. Therefore, it is imperative that you carefully read and understand the entire purchase contract and that you consult an attorney if you do not understand any issues regarding it before you enter into a binding contract.

As your buyer’s agent, I will thoroughly review the Offer to Purchase and Contract with you, answer any questions, and advise you during each step of the negotiation process.

Here are some Questions and Answers, from the perspective of a buyer who has hired me to represent them as their real estate buyer’s agent, regarding issues that may arise during contract negotiations for the purchase of a home or real estate in Pittsboro, Chatham County, or the NC Triangle:

Question: I have found a home I am interested in buying. How do I make an offer to purchase it?
Answer: As your real estate agent, I will prepare a standard Offer to Purchase for your signature. This offer will express the terms of the purchase (purchase price, closing date, etc.) that you are proposing to the seller. I will also prepare any necessary addenda to the contract for any provisions of special importance to you. The NC Bar Association and NC Association of REALTORS have jointly provided REALTORS with standard contracts and addenda to cover most typical real estate transactions. If there is an atypical provision unique to your offer, I will work jointly with an attorney of your choice to have the appropriate non-standard addenda drafted.

Question: Does my offer to purchase have to be in writing?
Answer: To be enforceable, real estate sales contracts must be in writing. Since only written offers may become binding contracts, your offer should be in writing and signed. Most home sellers will not entertain a verbal offer.

Question: What should be in my offer?
Answer: At a minimum, your offer must clearly identify you and the seller, state the offered sales price, closing date, and all of the terms to be agreed upon by you and the seller. It must also contain an adequate legal description of the property (for example, a reference to a recorded plat map or deed) – a street address alone is not sufficient.
There are many other important provisions you should consider. For example, to assure that items or features of the property you have seen in advertisements or MLS information are included in the sale, bring them to my attention so that I can list them in your offer. As your real estate agent, any purchase contract I prepare for you will include at least the eighteen separate provisions required in North Carolina, plus any other special provisions that are applicable to your offer.

Question: Must my offer include earnest money?
Answer: Earnest money is not required to make a binding real estate sales contract. However, in Pittsboro, Chatham County, and the NC Triangle, it is a common practice for a home buyer to include earnest money with an offer because it shows the buyer’s good faith, demonstrates some available cash, and makes it more likely that the seller will accept the offer.
In North Carolina, earnest money checks must be deposited no later than three banking days after acceptance, but may be deposited at any time after receipt. So, be sure your earnest money check is good at the time you write it.

Question: How will my offer be communicated to the seller?
Answer: As your real estate agent, I will deliver your offer to the seller’s real estate agent, or directly to the seller if the seller has no agent. The seller’s real estate agent must present all offers to the seller.

Question: How does acceptance occur?
Answer: To accept your offer, the seller must sign it without making any changes. Until you or I have been notified that the seller has signed your offer, you can withdraw it at any time – even if you have given the seller a deadline by which he or she must respond.

Question: Once the seller has signed my offer, does it become a contract?
Answer: No. It does not become a binding contract until the seller or the seller’s real estate agent has notified you or me that the seller has signed it. If the seller's real estate agent informs you or me that the seller has “verbally” accepted or will accept your offer but has not yet signed it, there is no enforceable contract.

Question: How will I be notified of the seller’s acceptance of my offer?
Answer: Unless the contract specifies the manner in which acceptance is to be given, it may be communicated to you or me orally by the seller or seller’s real estate agent, by personal delivery of the signed offer, mail, fax, or email. I will furnish you with a signed copy of the contract.

Question: What if the seller changes my offer in some way and then signs it?
Answer: If the seller makes any changes in your original offer, the original offer is rejected and cannot later be accepted. By making changes to the original offer, the seller is, in fact, making a counter offer to you which you can either accept, reject without making a counter offer, or reject and make your own counter offer. The process can continue in this manner indefinitely. You and the seller should initial and date all changes made during the negotiation of an offer. If the offer becomes too messy as a result of many changes, I or the seller’s real estate agent will re-type the offer in its final form before you and the seller sign it.

Question: What happens if someone else makes an offer to purchase the home or property before the seller accepts my offer?
Answer: Until the seller signs your offer and notifies you or me that it has been accepted, the seller can consider and accept an offer from a competing buyer – even if your offer was submitted first and is for a higher purchase price. A real estate agent is required to deliver all offers promptly. In order to obtain for their seller-client the best possible price, the seller’s real estate agent will usually inform competing prospective buyers or the buyer’s real estate agent that other potential buyers are interested in the property. To treat competing prospective buyers fairly, the seller’s real estate agent usually will not divulge the price and terms of competing offers. Whether you have been informed of competing offers or not, you cannot assume that your offer will receive special consideration or that you are the only buyer who is interested in the property.

Question: What else might happen to my offer after it is submitted to the seller?
Answer: It may simply expire if you include an expiration date in the offer (or within a reasonable period of time if no deadline is set). It is terminated if the seller sells or contracts to sell the property to someone else. Otherwise, unless you withdraw it, the offer remains an offer.

Question: What happens if the sales transaction does not close?
Answer: If there is any dispute between you and the seller and you cannot agree to a resolution of your respective claims, you may sue the other party in the appropriate court to resolve them. With regard to any earnest money you may have paid, the real estate agent holding the earnest money (usually the seller’s agent) must retain it in an escrow account until you and the seller reach a written agreement for its disbursement or a court resolves the dispute. Alternatively, with proper notification to you and the seller, the real estate agent may remit it to the clerk of court in the county where the property is located. When attorneys hold earnest money, they must hold or dispose of it in accordance with the rules of the North Carolina State Bar.

Question: The seller has accepted my offer but the resulting contract requires that certain things (loan approval, inspections, etc.) be done by a certain date. What happens if they are not completed by this date?
Answer: Generally, those “conditions” and “contingencies” must be performed by the dates specified in the contract or very soon thereafter, depending upon whether the contract states that “time is of the essence”. If time is of the essence, and you or the seller fail to perform by the stated deadline, the other party may terminate the contract. If the contract does not state that “time is of the essence” and, through no fault of your own, you are unable to complete the inspections by the deadline, but do so within a reasonable time, the seller must still go forward with the transaction. Although the seller may be able to recover damages from you for your failure to perform by the stated date, the seller must still perform his or her obligations under the contract.

Question: Once I have entered into a contract with the seller, is there any way I can cancel it?
Answer: Not without the consent of the seller unless a particular law or special (non-standard) provision in your contract grants you a right of rescission. North Carolina law grants a rescission right in certain limited circumstances.

Cindy Brudvik Davis, RE/MAX Southern Advantage, a full service real estate agent in Pittsboro, Chatham County, will work on your behalf to actualize your real estate and home ownership goals in the following NC Triangle towns and communities: 

Apex (Chatham and Wake Counties)

Carrboro (Orange County)

Cary (Chatham and Wake Counties)

Chapel Hill (Chatham and Orange Counties)

Fearrington Village (Pittsboro in NE Chatham County)

Governor's Club (Chapel Hill, Chatham County)

Graham (Southern Alamance County)

Holly Springs (Wake County)

Morrisville (Wake County)

Pittsboro (Chatham County)

Raleigh and North Raleigh (Wake County)

RTP (Research Triangle Park)

Siler City (Chatham County)

Silk Hope (Pittsboro and Siler City in Chatham County)

Snow Camp (Southern Alamance County)

Southwest Durham County (near Duke University and the Streets at Southpoint)

UNC (Chapel Hill, Orange County)

Home