← Buyer Toolkit
The buying playbook

Stage 4: Making an offer

Earnest money, contingencies and negotiating, so your offer protects you and still competes.

  1. Read 1 · 10 minEarnest money, explainedHow an earnest money deposit sits in escrow with a neutral third party and later applies toward the purchase price
  2. Read 2 · 13 minContingencies, explainedWhat the five standard contingencies do — financing, appraisal, inspection, home sale, and title — and which protects what
  3. Read 3 · 13 minShould you waive contingencies?What the inspection, appraisal, and financing contingencies each protect against, and which specific right disappears when one is waived
  4. Read 4 · 8 minNegotiating when homes sit longerWhat a slower market tends to look like, and why one stale listing isn't proof of one
  5. Read 5 · 8 minBackup offersWhy a backup offer is real offer paperwork — price, terms, contingencies, earnest money — rather than a casual note of interest, and why the form decides what it commits you to
Next: Under contract

We don't look up who you are from your answers, and we don't sell your information.

Buying for the first time? HUD-approved housing counselors offer pre-purchase counseling, often at no cost. Find a counselor