How it works

Selling

• All properties listed on the Final Offer platform must be listed with a licensed real estate agent or broker.

• Sellers and their agents execute the Final Offer Seller Agreement, committing upfront to sell the property to the buyer who makes the Winning Offer (See Winning Offers for more).

• Sellers and their agents work together to disclose the seller’s pricing and preferred terms of sale. At least one price must be enabled:

Buying

• All buyers making offers on Final Offer listings must be working with a licensed real estate agent or broker.

• Prior to making an offer on a listed property, the buyers and their agents complete an Offer Registration. This simple process includes:

  • Entering the buyers’ contact information so we can auto-populate any agreements.

  • Getting a Buying Power amount approved by providing an existing pre-approval letter or proof of funds for the listing agent to approve.

  • Executing the Buyer Registration Agreement, a simple agreement which gives the agent the authority to make offers on a buyer’s behalf, and commits the buyer to purchasing the property if they make the Winning Offer (See Winning Offers for more).

• Once registered, offers can be made in just a few clicks!

Offers

• All offers contain price, terms and an expiration date.

  • Purchase price is the amount of money the buyer will pay the seller if their offer becomes the Winning Offer.

  • Offer Terms are the terms of sale which the buyer agrees to. Buyers can accept the seller’s preferred terms when making an offer, or propose their own terms.

• Each offer has a calculated Total Offer Value. This is what’s used to compare offers on a level playing field based on both price and terms. The seller may choose to assign positive or negative Term Value to terms, based on what they care about most. If buyers accept terms with value, their Total Offer Value will be adjusted accordingly:

  
  

  Total Offer Value = Offer Price + Value of Accepted Terms

• Some listings may have a Seller Committed Price. The seller and their agent are being transparent about the bottom-line price and terms that the seller is contractually committed to accept if no superior offer is made within a specified timeframe.

  • An offer with a Total Offer Value that meets or exceeds the Seller Committed Price and agrees to all the Seller’s Terms is known as a Committed Offer. Both buyer and seller have mutually agreed to the Offer Price and Offer Terms, and have committed upfront to purchase or sell the property, respectively, if this offer ultimately becomes the Winning Offer (See Offer Window for more).

• Some listings may have a Final Offer Price. When enabled, buyers have the opportunity to make the Final Offer and place the property under contract immediately. Buyers must agree to the seller’s Final Offer Price and Terms.

Proposed Offer Negotiation

• Before a listing receives a Committed Offer or a Final Offer, buyers can propose offers for any price and terms. The seller is not committed to accept these Proposed Offers.

• By saving the home or signing up for offer alerts, interested parties will be notified in real-time that an offer was made, but the price and terms will not be disclosed publicly unless the seller chooses to reveal them at a later date.

• The seller and their agent will review all Proposed Offers, and can decide whether to accept, counter, or decline them.

  • Accept: The seller agrees to the buyer’s purchase price and Offer Terms. The seller can either accept it immediately as the Winning Offer, or, if the buyer has agreed to open an Offer Window for a period of time, the seller commits to accepting this offer if it is the highest offer at the end of the Offer Window. Accepting can only be done before the Proposed Offer expires.

  • Counter: The seller will accept or counter each of the buyer’s Offer Terms, and can negotiate by giving the buyer one or two different options to select for Offer Price:

    • Option A: Buyer’s offer will start an Offer Window
      $ 1,000,000

    • Option B: Buyer’s offer will immediately become the Winning Offer
      $ 1,100,000

    
    

    The counter offer will be sent to the buyer and their agent, and they can decide whether to accept, counter, or decline it. Accepting can only be done before the counter offer expires.

• The negotiation process continues back and forth until the buyer and seller mutually agree on an Offer Price and all Offer Terms. Once this occurs, the Proposed Offer becomes a Committed Offer, and its price and terms will be disclosed in the listing’s Offer History.

Offer Window

• The Offer Window is a countdown clock which reflects the period of time that buyers have to make competing offers.

• How does an Offer Window start?

  • Outcome of a negotiation, where buyer and seller agree that an Offer Window will start

  • Buyer makes a Committed Offer, agreeing to the Seller Committed Price and Terms

  • Listing agent chooses to start one themselves, before receiving a Committed Offer

• To make higher offers, the Total Offer Value must be 0.5% greater than the Current Highest Offer and buyers must agree to all of the Seller’s Terms. Proposing a different price or terms is not allowed after the seller has committed to accept an offer.

• The offer with the highest Total Offer Value at the end of the Offer Window will become the Winning Offer.

• By saving the home or signing up for offer alerts, interested parties will be notified in real-time when offers are made. The price and terms of all offers during the Offer Window are visible in the listing’s Offer History.

A few rules to keep in mind:

• No last-minute offers – if an offer is made within 20 minutes of the end time, the clock will reset to 20 minutes remaining.

• Seller’s Terms may change – any interested buyers will be alerted in real-time if the Seller’s Terms change during the Offer Window, and must accept the new terms to make a higher offer from that point forward. If the terms are changed within 20 minutes of the end time, the clock will reset to 20 minutes and the terms can’t be changed again until a higher offer is made.

• Final Offer always in play – the listing agent has full control to add, remove, or change the Final purchase price, and to change the Final Offer Terms prior to the Offer Window ending. The Offer Window will end immediately if a buyer makes the Final Offer!

Winning Offer

• The Winning Offer can be made in one of three ways:

  • (i) buyer’s acceptance of the seller’s Final Offer Price and Final Offer Terms
  • (ii) if no buyer makes the Final Offer, the Committed Offer which meets, exceeds, or is otherwise deemed by the seller to satisfy the Seller Committed Offer and has the highest Total Offer Value at the end of an Offer Window
  • (iii) buyer’s submission of a Proposed Offer that is immediately accepted by the seller

• The Winning Offer Agreement is generated and accepted automatically by the seller and buyer, based on the price and terms of the Winning Offer.

• If applicable, the winning buyer and their agent must submit their local real estate contract, within the agreed upon timeframe, to the listing agent for execution by all parties. From here, the seller’s and buyer’s agents proceed to finalize the transaction as they normally would. The Final Offer platform has completed its role making the process simple and transparent for the seller, buyer, and agents.

• If applicable, the winning buyer is required to submit payment for their deposit or fee as specified in the Winning Offer Agreement.