Your offer should include not only the purchase price, but also your conditions for financing, a building inspection, the completion date, movable items and the offer’s validity period. If you need to sell your own home first, you may also need to make your offer subject to that sale.
An attractive offer is not the same as an unconditional offer. Leaving out essential protections can expose you to major financial risks. You can often make your offer more attractive by wording your conditions clearly, specifically and realistically.
Treat your offer as one complete package
The seller will usually assess the proposal as a whole. Besides how much you should offer on a home, certainty, timing and clarity may carry considerable weight. This means the highest offer is not necessarily the one that will be accepted.
Make sure your offer includes at least the following:
- the purchase price;
- the financing condition;
- a building inspection condition, if applicable;
- the preferred completion date;
- agreements about movable items;
- the date and time when the offer expires;
- a condition relating to the sale of your own home, if applicable.
Not every offer needs all these conditions. The protection that makes sense depends on your financial position, the home and any investigations already carried out.
Financing condition
A financing condition allows you to terminate the purchase under the agreed conditions if you cannot obtain the mortgage you need. Simply writing that your offer is “subject to financing” is too vague.
Make sure you specify:
- the amount you need to finance;
- whether financing with Nationale Hypotheek Garantie is part of the condition;
- the date until which the condition applies;
- the steps you must take to obtain the mortgage;
- the documents you must provide if you terminate the purchase.
For existing homes, a financing period of six to eight weeks is often recommended, but this is not a legal standard. A business owner or buyer with a more complex mortgage application may need more time. Agree on the period with your mortgage adviser before making an offer. A short period may seem favourable to the seller, but it will not help you if the lender cannot assess the application in time.
Building inspection condition
A building inspection provides insight into defects, overdue maintenance and expected repair costs. If you want the option to withdraw from the purchase based on the outcome, the inspection condition must be specific.
A common approach is to agree on a deadline for the inspection and a maximum amount for immediately necessary repairs and overdue maintenance. You can also specify what happens if the inspector recommends a specialist follow-up investigation, for example into the foundations.
Do not choose the threshold amount at random. Ask yourself how much you can afford in unexpected repair costs in addition to the purchase price and other buying costs. Also check which costs count under the clause. A report may distinguish between immediate defects, longer-term maintenance and improvements you would personally like to make.
A broader agreement allowing you to terminate the purchase based on the inspection outcome without a cost threshold may sometimes be negotiable. You do not have this right automatically: it must be recorded explicitly.
Completion date
The completion date determines when legal ownership of the home is transferred and when you will generally receive the keys. For a seller, a suitable date can be almost as relevant as a difference in price.
You can propose an exact date, specify a period or state that you are flexible. Only promise flexibility you actually have. Consider the mortgage timetable, the end of your tenancy, the sale of your current home, overlapping housing costs and any work needed before you move.
If possible, ask about the seller’s preferred timetable. If several dates work for you, aligning with that timetable can make your offer more attractive without giving up financial protection.
Movable items
Not everything you see during the viewing is automatically included in the purchase. This may include curtains, freestanding cupboards, lights or certain appliances. A list of items is usually used for this purpose.
State in your offer that the list of items applies and specify any important deviations. Record what is included in the purchase price, what the seller will take and what you may take over for a separate amount.
Do not simply write that you want to buy the home “as seen”. If a specific item is important to you, mention it. This prevents you and the seller from later having different expectations about what will remain in the home.
Offer validity period
State the date and time until which your offer is valid. For example, until 12 noon on an agreed working day. This makes it clear to both parties how long the seller has to respond to your proposal. An offer from a private buyer does not yet constitute a purchase. In principle, the purchase only becomes binding once both parties have signed the purchase agreement.
If offers must be submitted by a fixed deadline, your offer must follow the stipulated procedure. The validity period of your offer is different from the period for the financing or inspection condition. Those periods only become relevant once the agreements have been included in the purchase agreement.
Condition relating to the sale of your own home
If you can only responsibly buy the new home once your current home has been sold, you can propose a termination condition for that sale. Specify, among other things, which home it concerns, when it must be sold and what counts as a successful sale.
This type of condition gives the seller less certainty. Under the NVM No Risk clause, the seller may continue actively marketing the home during the agreed period. If the seller then enters into a purchase agreement with another buyer on more favourable terms, the first buyer is given a choice under the current model clause. You can allow the first purchase to end or state within two working days that you wish to proceed and make the purchase agreement unconditional. In the latter case, all termination conditions must be removed, including the financing condition and the condition relating to the sale of your own home.
This can create a major financial risk. The NVM No Risk clause is a model clause, and the parties can make different agreements. Check exactly which conditions will be removed, which deadline applies and how you must communicate your decision. Also check that the financing condition aligns with the period in which your own home must be sold.
Do not give up protection without careful consideration
Without a financing condition, you risk being committed to the purchase even if you cannot secure your mortgage. Without a properly worded inspection condition, you may have to cover serious maintenance costs without being able to withdraw from the purchase.
As a private buyer, you are generally entitled to a statutory three-day cooling-off period when buying a home under normal circumstances. This period starts on the day after you receive the purchase agreement signed by both parties. At least two of the three days must not be a Saturday, Sunday or officially recognised public holiday. The cooling-off period can therefore last longer than three calendar days and is not automatically exactly 72 hours. If in doubt, have the specific end date checked.
After the cooling-off period, you cannot automatically withdraw because your financing falls through or the maintenance costs are higher than expected. You will need an applicable termination condition and must comply precisely with the agreed deadline, termination procedure and documentation requirements.
Before signing, check that all accepted conditions are included correctly and without changes in the purchase agreement. An agreement in an email or bidding platform is not sufficient if it is subsequently omitted from the contract or worded differently.
