What is Mutual Acceptance?

Mutual Acceptance is when the buyer and the seller have agreed on the terms of a purchase and sale agreement in a real estate transaction.

Imagine you are in the market for a house. You make a list of what is important to you such as location, size, and style. Then you go to the Internet to begin your search. Houses or properties you think are interesting pop up, and you drive by them if you happen to be in that area. As a result of thinking about it, you become interested enough that it is time to hire a real estate agent.

The realtor (we use realtor and real estate agent interchangeably in Washington State) should guide you through the process of purchasing a property. Naturally these are things like your needs and wants, do you need to sell, will you need a mortgage, and so on.

Once you have an agent, get financing in order, and land on a property, it’s time for the next step.

Making An Offer

During the home buying process when a buyer finds a real estate listing they would like to buy, they make an offer on the property. This is the purchase and sale agreement. The home buyer meets with their real estate agent to discuss the terms of the contract. These are things like:

• Purchase price
• Down payment
• How much earnest money
• Offer expiration date
• Home inspection
• Closing date
• Asking for closing costs
• Appliances
• Etc

Once they have filled out the form (usually electronic these days) the offer is sent to the realtor representing the property sellers. As a result of receiving it, they have twenty-four hours to get the purchase and sale agreement to them. However, in the modern age, it’s usually quick.

Receiving An Offer

The real estate agent has given the offer to their clients and should be reviewing it with them. What they discuss will sound like this:

• Do we agree with the terms?
• Should we negotiate?
• Do we tell them to go away because the offer is terrible and annoying?

Usually, it’s one of the first two. Message me if you want to know what kinds of things set sellers off. We’ll talk about it on the phone.

In the event that the sellers agree to all terms, they sign it and both parties are mutual. If the sellers choose to negotiate, they will add changes to the existing purchase and sale agreement, and send it to the buyers. To be honest, this could go on forever. However, it is usually just a couple of times.

Regardless, once both the buyers and the sellers agree to the terms and sign the document, we have reached “Mutual Acceptance.”