Making the Offer It's not so hard. The Format It's fairly standard. Some states will accept an offer written on anything, including a napkin. But the best idea for making a formal offer is to use a standard form appropriate to your state or local jurisdiction. Your broker or settlement attorney will have these forms available for you. At the least, an offer should include the:

• Address or description of the property
  
  
• Price you are willing to pay
  
  
• Date for a closing

For example, it could read: "I, Joe Smith, offer to buy 123 Main Street for $80,000, to close on June 1, 2000."

The offer to purchase is far simpler than the final contract to purchase. However... The typical offer includes more items than the short-list of must-haves above. Here are some typical inclusions:

• The offer is addressed specifically to the sellers
  
  
• The offer is dated
  
  
• An actual offer to purchase the property as offered by the seller's broker
  
  
• The payment structure, this could include the Earnest money, down payment, etc. You should be specific about how much you are offering, for what purpose and when in the settlement process.
  
  For example:
  
  $___ is offered at this time as a deposit to bind this offer.
  
  $___ is to be paid as an additional deposit once the contract has been executed by both parties.
  
  $___ is to be paid at the time of delivery of the Deed
  
  You may also want to specify whether the payments will be made in cash, cashier's or certified check.
  
  
• The next statement includes an expiration date for the offer, this tells the seller when he or she has to either accept or decline your offer, or make a counter offer.
  
  
• Then comes a list of contingencies that may nullify the contract. (See the section on Contingencies later in this course for additional information on this topic.)
  
  
• And last comes the date for closing.

So Much for the Offer

What about the contract itself? It's next.

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