What Happens After Someone Makes an Offer on Your Home?

Someone has just made an offer on your home. Maybe it came in after the first open home. Maybe your agent rang you on a Tuesday afternoon with the news. Either way, there’s usually a moment of excitement, followed fairly quickly by a whole lot of questions.

Is the offer good? What happens now? Can the buyer change their mind? What does “conditional” actually mean? And when can I finally start planning my move?

If you haven’t sold a property before, the process after receiving an offer can feel complicated. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be.

The important thing to understand is that an offer is the beginning of the next stage of the sale, not necessarily the end of it. Here’s what generally happens once an offer is on the table.

Step 1: The Offer Arrives in Writing

A serious offer on your home isn’t simply a buyer saying, “I’ll give you $800,000.”

In our market, the offer is generally made using a Sale and Purchase Agreement. This sets out the price, deposit, conditions, chattels and proposed settlement date, along with the other terms of the sale.

Your agent’s role at this stage is to present the offer to you clearly and explain the different components, so you can make an informed decision.

You don’t have to accept the first offer that comes in. That said, more often than not the first offer turns out to be the best one, so it deserves proper consideration rather than an automatic no.

Depending on the circumstances, you may:

• Accept the offer
• Decline the offer
• Make a counter-offer
• Negotiate particular terms or conditions

And if there are several interested buyers, there may be more than one offer to consider. Multiple offers also come with guidelines from the Real Estate Authority that your agent has to follow.

This is where having an agent who gives you straight advice, rather than simply pushing you towards a quick decision, becomes particularly important.

Step 2: Conditional vs Unconditional Offers

This is probably the area that causes the most confusion for sellers. Broadly, an offer is one of two things.

A conditional offer isn’t automatically a weaker offer. In fact, there are almost no buyers out there who are prepared or in a position to make cash unconditional offers anymore.

What matters is which conditions are included, how they are worded, and how much time the buyer has to satisfy them.

Step 3: The Conditions Period

Once a conditional agreement has been signed, the buyer begins working through their conditions. This can feel like a strange period for sellers. You’ve agreed on a price, but you’re not quite at the finish line yet.

During this period, a buyer might:

• Arrange a building inspection
• Finalise finance with their bank
• Obtain or review a LIM
• Have their lawyer review the title
• Arrange a valuation
• Work through other conditions included in the agreement

The exact process depends on the conditions in the agreement. Your agent’s attention may shift slightly away from you at this point, because they’ll be tracking what’s happening and communicating with the buyer’s side throughout.

The goal isn’t simply to wait until the deadline and hope everything works out. Good communication helps identify potential issues early.

Step 4: Going Unconditional

Once the buyer’s conditions have been satisfied, or otherwise dealt with in line with the agreement, the sale becomes unconditional.

This is usually the point where sellers can breathe easier. You are officially SOLD.

The sale is now moving towards settlement, and both parties are committed to completing the transaction, subject to the terms of the agreement. There’s still work to be done, though. Your solicitor or conveyancer keeps handling the legal side, while your agent keeps coordinating the practical side of getting the property through to settlement.

Depending on the agreement, the deposit will also be dealt with at the appropriate stage and generally passed on to you. Unless the buyer uses KiwiSaver for their deposit, which can change the way the deposit is handled and may mean you don’t get access to it before settlement.

This is exactly where it matters that your agent really understands the needs of that particular buyer, so they can give you the right advice.

Step 5: Settlement

Settlement is the final stage of the sale. It’s when the buyer pays the remaining balance of the purchase price and ownership of the property transfers to them.

Your solicitor and the buyer’s solicitor handle the legal and financial side of settlement. Once settlement has been confirmed, the keys can be released and the buyer can take possession according to the terms of the agreement.

For sellers, this is the moment when all the preparation, open homes, negotiations, paperwork and waiting finally come together. The property has fully sold and you are paid in full.

What Can Still Go Wrong?

Even after an offer has been accepted, there can occasionally be bumps along the way.

The answer isn’t to panic every time something unexpected happens. It’s to understand what the issue actually means, what the agreement says, and what options are available. That’s where having the right agent around you makes a real difference.

What Does Your Agent Actually Do During This Period?

This is the part sellers don’t always see. Once an offer is accepted, your agent’s job doesn’t simply stop. They may be:

• Communicating with the buyer
• Tracking condition deadlines
• Following up on finance progress
• Coordinating building inspections
• Communicating with solicitors where appropriate
• Clarifying questions about the property
• Negotiating if an issue arises
• Keeping you updated throughout the process
• Coordinating access to the property
• Helping make sure everyone knows what happens next

It can be a relatively quiet period from a seller’s perspective. Behind the scenes, there’s still plenty happening.

A Local Perspective: Nelson & Tasman

Here in Nelson and Tasman, conditional offers are a normal part of the market. Finance and building inspection conditions are particularly common, especially when you’re dealing with first home buyers or buyers who are selling another property.

So if you’ve received a conditional offer, don’t assume the buyer isn’t serious. Look at the quality of the offer as a whole:

1. What is the price?The headline figure still matters, but it’s only one part of the picture.
2. What are the conditions?Finance and a building report behave very differently to a condition on the buyer selling their own home.
3. How long do the conditions run for?A short, tight timeframe carries a very different risk to a long one.
4. What does the settlement look like?The settlement date needs to work with your own plans, not just theirs.
5. How likely is this offer to reach settlement?This is the question that really counts, and it’s the one a good agent should help you answer.

A good agent should help you look at the whole picture rather than simply focusing on the dollar figure.

The Bottom Line

Receiving an offer on your home is exciting. But it’s important to understand that an accepted offer doesn’t mean the process is finished.

There can still be conditions to work through, inspections to complete, finance to confirm and plenty of communication behind the scenes before you reach settlement.

The good news is that you don’t need to navigate all of this yourself. That’s part of what you’re paying your real estate agent for. A good agent should help you understand what’s happening, keep you informed, manage the process and give you honest advice when decisions need to be made.

Because selling your home isn’t just about getting an offer. It’s about getting the right offer and successfully getting it through to settlement.

Common Questions

This article is general information about the sale process and is not legal advice. If you’re unsure what a particular condition or clause in your agreement means, speak with your solicitor or conveyancer.