How to make an offer to buy a home

An offer to buy a home doesn’t have to be a formal one – you can submit it via email

When you make an offer on an apartment, you submit a written proposal to the seller for buying the apartment for a certain price and under certain conditions.

“You need to submit your offer in writing but it doesn’t have to follow any standard template – you can state the conditions of your offer informally. These days, buyers often submit their offers through the real estate agency’s online platform,” says Jussi Pajala, CEO of Nordea Mortgage Bank.

There is no specific template for making a purchase offer but submitting an offer through the real estate agent often makes bidding easier. You can send your offer in an email that includes all the necessary details.

“Although there’s no standard format that dictates the contents of an offer, you need to draft your offer carefully, as it will become binding on you and the seller once the seller accepts it,” Pajala says.

In the case of buying a house, the buyer doesn’t make a purchase offer but the buyer and the seller conclude a preliminary agreement on the property instead. Content-wise, the preliminary agreement is fairly similar to the final real estate sale agreement, and it must be made on a standard form.

Make your offer specific

Make sure your offer includes your details, the exact address of the apartment you want to buy and the price you’re willing to pay. Also include the following:

dates on which ownership and possession will change hands
date of signing the deed of sale
date of closing the transaction
deposit
validity of the offer
other conditions of the sale.

Conditional offers have become more common

Nowadays many purchase offers are submitted with certain conditions attached. Often the condition is related to the buyer selling their own apartment first.

Conditional offers became more common towards the end of the pandemic as interest rates began to rise. At the time uncertainty in the housing market was high, which forced prospective buyers to make purchase offers contingent on the sale of their own apartment.

“The housing market underwent a big transformation in 2022. There was a shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. In 2023 and 2024, most offers submitted by buyers were conditional offers. This, together with higher interest rates and people’s low confidence in their financial future and in the Finnish economy, brought the housing market to a halt,” Pajala says.

Right now, there are apartments on sale for decent prices, and over the past six months more and more buyers have returned to the housing market.

“We are gradually seeing this trend reverse, which means that every offer is no longer contingent on the buyer selling their own apartment first.”

Conditions of the sale

Buyers often submit an offer contingent on selling their existing apartment first.
If you haven’t finalised the details of your home loan with your bank yet, you can only make a conditional offer.
Other common conditions include a successful home inspection or damp survey or the buyer’s request to include personal property, such as lights, closets or other pieces of furniture in the sale.

A loan promise allows you to make a binding offer

When we give you a loan promise, we commit to lending you the agreed amount.

Once you have agreed on the details of the loan with your bank, you are all set to make a binding offer that can give you an edge over other bidders. Most sellers prefer binding offers to conditional ones.

When should I offer below the asking price?

There’s no rule of thumb as to when you should offer below the seller’s asking price.

According to Pajala, it’s important to have a plan before you start bidding on an apartment. “You need to understand both the ‘micro market’ and the overall market and be able to recognise when the asking price is in line with market trends.”

“Bargaining is part of the buying process. However, if you believe that the asking price is spot on, you need to think about how low you want to go with your offer. If the seller seems to be in a rush to sell the apartment, it’s a clear sign that you should offer below the asking price.”

An apartment that has been on sale for a long time or that is clearly overpriced can sell for less than the asking price. On the other hand, if an apartment is in high demand and is considered good value for money, it may sell for the asking price or even above it.

How does a purchase offer on a home become a contract binding on both parties?

Once you have submitted your purchase offer, the seller either accepts it as it is or refuses it.

“An offer may be valid for just a few hours or longer,” Pajala says.

“A seller may have several prospective buyers bidding on the home but as a buyer you are not allowed to submit more than one offer at a time. Your previous offer is always cancelled when you make a new offer.”

If the seller doesn’t accept your offer, they will usually make a counter-offer. As the bidding process goes on, the parties will come to an agreement on the conditions of the sale, and finally negotiate on the price.

Potential buyers will often offer less than the asking price, and the seller will accept or refuse such offers. According to Pajala, it’s common to go through a few rounds of bidding. Once both parties agree on the price and the other conditions of the sale, they will accept the offer.

The purchase offer will become binding as soon as both parties have accepted it and the buyer has paid the deposit. The offer will be binding on both parties until the deed of sale is signed.

Secure your offer with a deposit or standard compensation

If the seller accepts your offer, you have to pay a deposit as agreed. Its maximum amount is 4% of the transaction price. The deposit is your promise to buy the home. Another option is to agree on standard compensation.

If the buyer pulls out of the sale, the seller is entitled to keep the deposit or receive standard compensation as agreed. If the seller decides not to go through with the sale, they must return the deposit to the buyer. In addition to returning the deposit, the seller must pay the buyer an amount corresponding to the deposit as compensation.

If the buyer and the seller have agreed on standard compensation, the seller must pay this to the buyer.

The conditions of the sale may also stipulate that the party pulling out of the sale is liable for any actual losses incurred by the other party.

If the property is not vacated on time by the seller, they are liable to pay compensation to the buyer. If the buyer’s payment is late, the sale may be cancelled, in which case the seller is entitled the keep all the funds paid to them up to that point.

Frequently asked questions about making an offer

How does a bidding sale work?

In most home sales, the seller sets an asking price and the buyer places an offer for the home. Potential buyers will often offer less than the asking price, and the seller will accept or refuse such offers.

A bidding sale works the other way round: The seller sets a minimum price for the home, based on which potential buyers can decide how much they want to offer above this price. The seller doesn’t make any counter-offers.

A bidding sale is suitable for homes that are expected to be in high demand or are difficult to price correctly because there are few homes on the market in the area. A bidding sale is a good option when several potential buyers are expected to place competing offers anyway.

The advertisement for homes for sale will indicate if the home is subject to open bidding. The minimum asking price for the home that the seller will accept will be shown on public home listing sites, such as Etuovi.com and Oikotie.com.

Can I make a binding offer on a home after receiving a loan promise?

When we give you a loan promise, we commit to lending you the agreed amount. This commitment gives you peace of mind and makes it easy for you to make an offer on a home. A loan promise does not oblige you to take out a loan.

If you have already found the right home when you apply for a loan, you should tell us about this when we negotiate on your loan. We will check that we can accept the home as collateral and give you a loan promise.

Once you have received a loan promise and agreed on all the details of the loan with your bank, you are all set to make a binding offer that can give you an edge over other bidders.

Our promise to grant you a loan will be valid for 6 months, but the cost of the home loan stated in the loan promise (the interest rate and the margin) will be valid for one month.