To make an offer, you usually sign a contract that will be sent to the seller or seller’s real estate agent for the seller to consider. The offer is good for a limited time identified in the contract. The seller can accept, reject, or counter your offer. If you are working with a real estate agent, then your real estate agent will usually handle this process and you only need to sign the contract.
Acceptance – To accept your offer, the seller countersigns the offer and sends it back to you. Once the offer is accepted by seller, you are under contract.
Rejection – To reject your offer, the seller can communicate to you that the offer is rejected, or the seller can ignore the offer and not sign it during the offer period.
Counteroffer – The seller can send the offer back to you with a counteroffer. A counteroffer serves as a rejection of the original offer. You will have an amount of time specified in the contract to accept, reject, or counter the seller’s counteroffer.
Note: Once an offer is rejected or counteroffered, the original offer cannot be accepted. For instance, if you make an offer, the seller counteroffers, you counter the seller’s counteroffer, and the seller rejects it, you cannot later accept the seller’s original counteroffer. Your counteroffer served as a rejection of the seller’s counteroffer. Since the seller’s counteroffer was rejected, it cannot be accepted.