On the day after the open house, I never thought I would be negotiating and accepting an offer so soon. In the article Selling the Estate Rental Property: Listing the Estate Rental Property, I set the listing price to $225,000.00 and agreed to an open house scheduled for April 1, 2013. So, on April 2nd, I became anxious when the realtor called me at work. Then, I became elated when the realtor told me about three offers made at the open house. The realtor described the offers as follows:

1. The first offer was for $225,000.00 pending a home inspection. The realtor went on to explain that this couple will have difficulties obtaining a mortgage.
2. Next, the second offer was for $240,000.00 pending a home inspection. The realtor made it clear that this couple should easily obtain a mortgage.
3. The last offer was for $195,000.00 cash. The offer was from investors that agreed to waive the home inspection.

The third offer caught my interest and I told the realtor as much. In response, the realtor agreed with me since the house structure had some problems that a home inspection would reveal. However, I thought the price was too low. So, I wanted to discuss the offers with a few beneficiaries, including my sister. The realtor understood but told me that investors made the offer and need an answer by noon tomorrow. I told the realtor that I would call the next morning with a decision.

Discuss the Offers with the Three Beneficiaries

After discussing the options with the realtor, I really wanted to make the third option work.  So, when I approached the beneficiaries, the third option was the focus. The discussion involved the other two options, but what scared me was the need for a home inspection. The home inspection would reveal faults in the structure and heating system and would require costly repairs or replacement. So, the three beneficiaries and I whittled down the offers in the following way:

• The first option was out simply because obtaining financing would be a problem.
  

• Option number two wasn’t out. However, accepting the offer would entail the investor’s walking away and that the home inspection revealed only minor problems.

• On option three, we set the counter offer to $210,000.00. Basically, we knew the house needed costly repairs to pass a home inspection. The repairs would reduce the value of the $240,000.00 offer substantially. So, by doing some calculations, the $210,000.00 would be in the same ballpark as the net amount of the $240,000.00 offer. Also, by including the cost of cleaning up debris left in the home such as an old dryer, a refrigerator, and a lawn mower, I could avoid some expenses to add some value of the cash offer.

So, after the discussion, the decision to further negotiate the third offer was unanimous.

Accepting an Offer

The next day, April 3, 2013, my first call was to the realtor. Immediately, I went through our decision offer by offer. The realtor had no problem with discarding the first offer. However, I informed the realtor that in order for me to accept the third offer, they would have to agree to pay $210,000.00 in cash, waive the home inspection, and clean out all the remaining debris on the property. After, the realtor asked about the second offer. The second offer I would accept only if the investors refused my counter offer and the home inspection revealed only minor damage and repairs. After hearing my decision on each offer, the realtor ended the call and contacted the investors with my counter offer.

Shortly after noon on April 3, the realtor called to inform that the investors accepted my counter offer.

Feeling elated, I expressed to the realtor, “Great! I can’t believe we moved the house so quickly.”

The realtor then calmly asked, “Should we refuse the other two offers?”

I replied, “Yes, I will sell to the investors. They will renovate the home and make it a better home for whoever ends up buying it.”

Conclusion

To accept the offer, the realtor faxed the Contract to Purchase Real Estate form to the office. After signing the form, I returned the form by fax. This completed the task of accepting an offer. At this point in the sale process, the only tasks left were some paperwork and the closing.

On the night of April 3^rd, a sense of accomplishment came over me. After accepting an offer for the rental property, that ended the asset settlement phase of the estate. At this point, the successful end to this administration was in sight; an accomplishment I never thought would happen.

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