In Part 1 of this article, we talked about things Pennsylvania homeowners need to be aware of in the beginning of the selling process: working with a real estate agent, signing a listing agreement, and making real estate disclosures.
We’ll pick up here with the next steps in the process: responding to offers, counteroffers, and purchase agreements, entering escrow, and attending the closing of your Pennsylvania home.
Responding to offers, counteroffers, and purchase agreements:
With the help of your real estate agent, you may soon have an offer on your home. An interested buyer will submit a written offer to you, and it will include the basic terms they are proposing for the transaction.
The offer will spell out how much the buyer is willing to pay for your home, how much of that they are offering as a down payment, and contingencies. Contingencies are factors that the sale of the house depends on, and could include things like you passing a home inspection, or the hopeful buyers selling their own home.
Once you receive an offer, you have three options: You can accept the offer as it stands, you can completely reject the offer, or you can make a counteroffer. In a counteroffer, you accept some of the items the buyer has proposed, but ask for some of them to be changed. Counteroffers are common, and usually involve negotiating for a higher price. Your real estate agent can help you decide what kind of counteroffer to put together to get the most value for your home.
When you accept an offer, either outright or after counteroffers have been made, you sign it and it becomes a legally binding contract. This contract outlines the conditions of the sale, from price to closing date.
Entering escrow:
After you and the buyer both sign the purchasing agreement, you enter escrow. Escrow simply means the window of time between when you sign the purchasing agreement and when you close on your home.
This is an important time in the transaction, and you will most likely work with an escrow or title agent to guide you through it. In addition to being experts in the process, they are also objective parties, so they can mediate between you and the buyer of a dispute comes up.
During escrow the person buying your home will probably have more to do than you will. It’s their job to take care of things like the financing, appraisal, and title insurance. They will also have to work on making sure any contingencies are met so the sale can move forward.
Depending on how your purchasing agreement was written, if there is a serious dispute you cannot resolve with your buyer, they may have a chance to end the transaction without any penalty.
Attending closing:
When you and the buyer have met all the conditions of your purchasing agreement, escrow ends and you can close on your home. Closing, sometimes called settlement, is usually done in one day, and involves exchanging payment and all final documents. This is also the time when you pay the commission to your real estate agent that you agreed on when you listed your house with them.
Pennsylvania does not require homeowners to be present at a closing, as long as both sides make sure they have signed and exchanged all of the necessary documents, and all costs have been paid.
If you have any questions about selling your Pennsylvania home, reach out to a licensed real estate agent to guide you through the process and help you get the most for your home.
Source: https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/pennsylvania/selling-a-house-in-pennsylvania.html
