How to Counter an Offer on Your Westside LA Home: A Step-by-Step Guide

An offer came in below your ask. Or the price is close but the terms are not what you were hoping for. Now what?

Many sellers feel like they have to accept or reject an offer as written. You do not. A counter offer is a tool, and how you use it shapes the rest of the negotiation. Here is how the process works in California and what to think through before you respond.

In California residential sales, counter offers are written on a separate California Association of Realtors form. When you sign a counter offer and deliver it to the buyer, the original offer is set aside and no longer binding on either party. The buyer now has three choices: accept your counter as written, counter back on the terms you have proposed, or decline and walk away.

This matters for a practical reason: once you counter, you cannot simultaneously go back to the original offer. The terms on the table are the counter offer terms until the buyer responds. If there are multiple buyers in the picture and you only counter one of them, the others remain eligible to present their best terms. For situations where you want to negotiate with more than one buyer at the same time, California has a Multiple Counter Offer form, which is a different process covered below.

Price gets the most attention, but a counter offer can address any term in the purchase agreement.

• Purchase price. The most common reason to counter. You can meet the buyer partway, hold your position, or propose a different number entirely.
• Earnest money deposit. A higher deposit signals buyer commitment. Countering for a larger earnest money amount raises the cost of walking away after contingencies are removed.
• Contingency lengths. You can counter a 17-day inspection contingency down to 10 or 12 days. A shorter window means less time you are held off the market while the buyer investigates.
• Close of escrow date. If the proposed closing timeline does not fit your move, counter to a date that works. This matters especially if you are coordinating a simultaneous purchase or a specific move-out.
• Inclusions and exclusions. If the buyer asked for something you planned to take with you, the counter offer is where you address it in writing.
• Seller credits. If the buyer is requesting a credit toward closing costs or repairs, counter with a different amount or decline the credit entirely.

For a full breakdown of how to read what is in front of you before you respond, see how to evaluate an offer on your Westside LA home.

Every counter offer in California includes an expiration date and time. The buyer must respond before that deadline or the counter expires automatically.

Short deadlines, such as 24 to 48 hours, signal that you are serious and are not holding the negotiation open indefinitely. They also prevent a buyer from keeping your property out of play while they continue shopping for alternatives. In active Westside markets, short response windows are common and expected by experienced buyer's agents.

Longer deadlines may make sense if the buyer needs time to consult a lender, is traveling, or if the specific situation calls for patience. I will advise on what fits the circumstances. The key is that the deadline is intentional, not an afterthought.

When more than one offer comes in, you have a decision to make before writing any counter: do you counter one buyer exclusively, or use a Multiple Counter Offer to negotiate with several buyers at the same time?

A Multiple Counter Offer goes to multiple buyers simultaneously with the same proposed terms. Each buyer can accept, decline, or counter back. The seller then selects which response to sign into a contract, if any. No contract is formed until the seller signs back a specific acceptance from one buyer. Until that moment, the seller is not bound to any of them.

The advantage of the Multiple Counter Offer is that you keep your options open rather than losing potential buyers by countering only one. The trade-off is more paperwork and a potentially complex response period if multiple buyers accept at the same time. For the full picture of managing a competitive situation, read the guide on handling multiple offers in Westside LA.

Before you finalize any counter, run through a projected net sheet. The price on paper is not the same as what you walk away with. A seller credit requested by the buyer reduces your net directly. A longer close date may carry costs depending on your next move. A shorter contingency period lowers your risk even if it does not change the final number.

The right counter gets you to a close at terms you can actually live with. For how to read the numbers that matter, see how to read your net sheet when selling in Westside LA.

Some offers are too far below market to bridge with a counter. If a buyer comes in thirty percent below an accurate list price with no context, countering at list is unlikely to produce a deal. Their number tells you something about their expectations or their budget, and starting a negotiation from there may go nowhere useful.

In those cases, you can decline the offer directly. There is no obligation to counter every offer you receive, and sometimes a clear no is the most efficient response.

There are also structural problems that a higher counter price cannot fix: a financing offer backed by an unknown lender with no documentation, an aggressive contingency structure that would leave you exposed for weeks, or a proposed close date that does not match what you need. Address those concerns directly in the counter terms, or decline and wait for a cleaner offer.

If the buyer accepts your counter, you have a contract. Escrow opens, contingency periods begin, and the transaction moves toward close. For a full walkthrough of what follows acceptance, read what happens after you accept an offer on your Westside LA home.

If the buyer counters back, the negotiation continues on the new terms they propose. At each round, ask the same questions: what does my net look like under these terms, how does this timeline fit my situation, and is this buyer actually prepared to close?

Once you are in escrow and moving through contingency periods, the negotiation does not stop entirely. Inspection findings often produce another round of requests. That is a different process, covered in the piece on negotiating repair requests after a home inspection in California.

I am Bobejo Kelley, calDRE 02085097. I walk every seller through the counter offer before we write anything, and I give you a clear picture of where each buyer stands so you can make a confident decision. I handle everything from the first offer review to keys changing hands.

Book a consultation at firstkeypacific.com/contact or email bobejo@firstkeypacific.com. No pressure, just real answers.

If you are weighing a sale in Playa del Rey, the useful first conversation is not about a listing price. It is about what your home needs, what it will cost, and what it is likely to return. First Key Pacific is my practice, and I walk the property before anyone spends a dollar. Tell me about your home and we will start there.