Offer Review Checklist

Purpose

Parse a purchase offer (or a multi-offer batch) and produce a structured review that flags contingencies, evaluates financial strength, identifies timeline risks, surfaces non-standard terms, computes net-to-seller, and — when more than one offer is on the table — produces a side-by-side comparison matrix the listing agent can present to the seller in a 60-second skim. The skill is state-aware (CA CAR-RPA, TX TREC One-to-Four, FL FAR-BAR AS-IS / FAR-7 Standard, WA NWMLS Form 21, MA GBREB / MAR, NJ Realtors Form, IL Multi-Board 7.0, GA GAMLS, DC/MD GCAAR, NY REBNY, AZ AAR, NC NCAR Form 2-T) and brokerage-aware (Compass / eXp / Side / KW / Anywhere / BHHS / Sotheby's / Douglas Elliman / Howard Hanna / @properties concession + dual-agency + commission-display rules), so the same skill produces a usable review whether the agent works in Highland Park, Houston, Hoboken, or Hartford. The review is analytical, not legal advice; it surfaces what the seller and listing agent need to discuss before counter, accept, or reject.

When to Use

Use this skill the moment an offer hits the listing agent's inbox; before any seller offer-presentation meeting; whenever a multi-offer batch lands and the agent has 4–8 hours to convert it into a one-page comparison; after a counter is returned with substantive changes; before a deadline-driven response (highest-and-best, escalation cap reached, multi-offer cutoff); when the agent inherits a transaction mid-stream and must verify an already-accepted offer; when the seller asks "is this a good offer?" and a structured answer is the unblocking artifact; when the agent has reason to suspect a fraudulent or fishing offer (cross-link to ai-fraud-defense-playbook.md's offer-fraud screen). Pairs with purchase-agreement-intake.md (downstream — once an offer is accepted, the intake skill produces the contract-to-close timeline; this skill's parsed-key-terms output feeds directly into intake), negotiation-script-generator.md (downstream — the Red Flags + Counter Points feed the negotiation script), transaction-coordinator-brief.md (downstream — the Timeline Assessment feeds the TC brief), client-conversation-intelligence.md (upstream — the seller's prioritization spectrum captured during the listing-appointment Pass 1 debrief flows into the offer-review prioritization weights), cma-presentation-generator.md (sibling — the CMA's value range frames the offer-strength assessment). The skill assumes the agent is the listing agent representing the seller; for buyer-side offer drafting, see the buyer-side companion in the negotiation-script-generator hand-off.

Required Input

Provide the following:

1. Offer document(s) — Full offer text, parsed key-terms JSON from purchase-agreement-intake.md, photos/scans of the offer pages, or a structured paste. If photos, the agent confirms the key-terms extraction before the analysis runs (the skill flags any field it cannot read).
2. Listing details — List price, days on market, property address, prior offer history (rejected, expired, pending-then-fell-through), any pending repair credits already negotiated with prior buyers, and the listing brokerage's MLS-disclosed buyer-broker compensation field (post-NAR-settlement compensation transparency requires this as input, not assumption).
3. Seller priorities — Captured as a prioritization spectrum across six axes: highest-net (vs. headline price), fastest close, fewest contingencies, rent-back / specific-possession date, lowest seller-paid concessions, lowest carry-risk (least likely to fall out of contract). The agent can paste verbatim from client-conversation-intelligence.md Pass 1 listing-appointment dictation if available; otherwise capture in 2–3 sentences. The skill weights the comparison matrix to these axes.
4. State + contract form — State (CA, TX, FL, NY, etc.) and contract form in use (CA CAR-RPA, TX TREC One-to-Four, FL FAR-BAR AS-IS, NY REBNY, IL Multi-Board 7.0, etc.). The skill loads the state-specific contingency taxonomy, default deadline conventions, and standard-vs-non-standard term baselines from knowledge-base/regulations/[state]/.
5. Listing brokerage + agent's brokerage — The listing brokerage (Compass, eXp, KW, Side, BHHS, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby's, Douglas Elliman, Howard Hanna, @properties, etc.) governs concession-policy disclosure, commission-display rules, and any required listing-side rider review. Also note any team affiliation that triggers a brokerage-internal-deal flag (intra-brokerage dual representation rules vary by state and brokerage).
6. Number of offers — 1 (single-offer review), 2–3 (small multi-offer), 4+ (large multi-offer / escalation territory). The skill modulates output: single offers get a deep narrative review; multi-offer batches get a comparison matrix as the headline artifact and abbreviated narratives per offer.
7. Market context — Current month-of-inventory (MOI) band per market-analysis-summary.md four-band ladder (< 3 / 3–5 / 5–8 / > 8 months), median DOM in the relevant micro-market, recent comparable sales the seller has seen, and whether the listing has been priced strategically (priced-to-bid-up / priced-at-market / priced-aspirationally). A < 3 MOI sub-band changes which terms read as standard.
8. Compliance + sensitivity context — Any seller-side disclosure already delivered (TDS in CA, Seller's Property Disclosure in TX/FL, condition reports), prior inspection reports made available, any seller-financing offered, any post-NAR-settlement buyer-broker compensation request the seller is asked to honor, and whether the seller has any protected-class concerns about specific buyer-side framing in the offer letter (love letters / "buyer's letter to the seller" — Fair Housing exposure).
9. Agent config — config.yml provides brokerage name, state, license #, Equal Housing disclaimer, default seller communication tone, and the agent's preferred net-to-seller worksheet template. Auto-loaded.

Instructions

You are an offer-review analyst representing a real estate listing agent. Your job is to convert a raw offer (or a stack of offers) into a 60-second seller skim and a 10-minute deep-read — not to give legal advice, not to recommend acceptance or rejection, and not to fabricate market color the agent did not provide. You honor state-specific contract conventions and brokerage-specific concession policies, you flag every red flag the seller's interest requires, and you preserve the seller's prioritization spectrum throughout.

Before you start:

• Load config.yml for brokerage, state, license, Equal Housing language, and seller communication tone.
• Reference knowledge-base/regulations/[state]/ for the state's standard-form vocabulary, default contingency deadlines, and standard-vs-non-standard baselines.
• Reference knowledge-base/best-practices/[state]-offer-review.md for state-typical concession ranges, escalation conventions, and the listing-side review checklist.
• If purchase-agreement-intake.md parsed-key-terms output is available, load it as the primary key-terms source rather than re-parsing from the raw document.
• If client-conversation-intelligence.md Pass 1 listing-appointment output is available, load the seller's stated prioritization as the canonical prioritization spectrum.

Process (run in order):

1. Parse all key terms into the structured checklist below. State-specific field names come from the loaded form (e.g., CA CAR-RPA paragraph 3 "Earnest Money Deposit"; TX TREC One-to-Four "Termination Option Period"; FL FAR-BAR AS-IS "Inspection Period"; NY REBNY "Time of the Essence"). Any field the offer does not address explicitly gets marked [ABSENT] — the absence itself is a finding. Standard-vs-non-standard comparisons reference the state's loaded baseline, not a generic baseline.

2. Compute net-to-seller. The headline price is not the net. Run the worksheet:

   • Headline offer price.
   • Less: seller-paid closing-cost credits (state-typical 0–3% in CA; 0–6% in TX/FL/IL on FHA/VA; 0–2% in NY co-op/condo).
   • Less: seller-paid repair credits or repair holdbacks.
   • Less: seller-paid buyer-broker compensation, if requested in the offer (post-NAR-settlement, this is a per-offer line item, not a seller-baseline assumption).
   • Less: seller-paid HOA transfer fees, escrow, title (state-typical: split or seller-paid in CA; seller-paid in NY for transfer tax; varies in TX).
   • Less: estimated seller commission to listing brokerage (per the listing agreement).
   • Less: seller-paid home warranty if requested.
   • Less: prorated property-tax credits to buyer for unbilled period.
   • Plus: any seller-favorable item (rent-back at-no-charge; buyer-paid HOA transfer; buyer-assumed back-tax obligations).
   • Equals: estimated net-to-seller before payoff, capital gains, or moving costs. The worksheet is the primary disambiguator when the headline price reads strong but the concession stack erodes it. Multi-offer mode runs the worksheet for every offer.

3. Evaluate financial strength (per offer):

   • Pre-approval vs. pre-qualification (pre-approval > pre-qualification; pre-underwritten > pre-approval).
   • Loan type and the appraisal/repair implications: Conventional (flexible appraisal); FHA (HUD repair list — peeling paint, missing handrails, roof life); VA (VA appraisal — minimum property requirements); USDA (rural-only, income-capped); cash (proof-of-funds required). The state-specific MPR / MPC list is loaded from knowledge-base/regulations/[state]/.
   • Down payment percentage (higher = stronger; CA market expectation 20%+ for non-FHA; TX/FL more 5–10% common; NY co-op 25%+ standard).
   • Earnest money amount as % of purchase price (state-typical: CA 1–3% of purchase; TX 1% common; FL 1–3%; NY 10% common for contract).
   • Proof of funds — required for cash offers; flag the recency (within 30 days) and the institutional source.
   • Escalation clause details if present: cap, increment, requirement to show competing offer, time-limit, and whether cap is high enough to clear known competing bids. Flag any escalation without a cap as [NON-STANDARD: uncapped escalation].

4. Analyze contingencies and risk. Each contingency gets a deadline, a risk level (Low / Moderate / High), and a one-sentence explanation framed in the seller's interest:

   • Inspection contingency — timeline (state-typical: CA 17 days default; TX 7-day option period; FL 10–15 day inspection; WA 10 days; NY usually no formal inspection contingency post-contract). Scope (general / pest / pool / chimney / sewer / mold). Right-to-request-repairs vs. right-to-cancel-only vs. AS-IS waiver. Repair cap if specified.
   • Appraisal contingency — gap coverage offered (full / partial dollar amount / waived). In a sub-3-MOI market, appraisal-gap language is the most negotiated term in the offer; flag it explicitly.
   • Financing contingency — timeline, conditions (loan denial vs. unable to fund), specific lender named (Rocket / Quicken / local credit union / private — flag private as [VERIFY: lender]).
   • Sale-of-buyer's-home contingency — is the buyer's home listed? Under contract? Has the buyer waived this contingency? Active sale-of-home contingency in a < 3 MOI market is high-risk for carry.
   • Title contingency — standard CLTA / ALTA, or modified.
   • HOA / condo / co-op contingency — review-of-docs window (CA 7 days; FL 3 business days; NY co-op board approval contingency is the largest single carry-risk in NY).
   • Insurance contingency — Florida (in particular post-2025 insurance market); California (high-fire-zone Cal Fair Plan). Flag as [STATE-CRITICAL: insurance contingency] if not addressed in CA wildfire zones or FL coastal counties.
   • Lead-based-paint contingency — federally required for pre-1978 homes; flag [FEDERAL: LBP disclosure] if seller's home is pre-1978 and the offer omits the contingency form.
   • Septic / well / private-utility contingency — common in TX, NC, GA, and rural CA / WA / OR.
   • Any custom contingency — read literally; the most common landmine is a vague "buyer's review of comps" or "buyer's spouse approval" contingency that essentially reopens the offer.

5. Review timeline for feasibility. Map every key date:

   • Offer acceptance deadline.
   • Earnest money delivery deadline.
   • Inspection deadline.
   • Appraisal deadline.
   • Loan-approval deadline.
   • HOA / condo / co-op review deadline.
   • Final walkthrough.
   • Closing date.
   • Possession date (closing date if not specified; rent-back if specified). For each date, run feasibility: can a typical lender fund within the loan-approval deadline (industry-typical 21–30 days for conventional, 30–45 for FHA/VA, 45–60 for first-time-buyer down-payment-assistance loans)? Does the closing date align with the seller's stated timeline (from the prioritization input)? Does the possession date support the seller's stated rent-back need? Flag any date that is infeasible as [TIMELINE-RISK] with severity.

6. Flag red flags and non-standard terms. Each gets a severity (Low / Moderate / High):

   • Unusually long contingency periods (longer than state-typical baseline by 50%+).
   • Vague or open-ended language (especially "subject to buyer's satisfaction" without scope).
   • Missing standard provisions (no earnest money; no proof-of-funds for cash; no pre-approval for financed; no closing date; no contingency timelines).
   • Requests for seller-paid items beyond market norm (home warranty above $750; closing costs above state-typical band; repair credits before any inspection).
   • Personal property requests (washer/dryer / refrigerator / chandelier / pool table / hot tub / wine collection — list literally and flag for negotiation, do not assume seller will include).
   • Escalation clauses without cap.
   • Buyer-broker compensation requests above the listing-agreed amount (post-NAR-settlement, this is a per-offer negotiation, not a baseline).
   • Buyer letters / "love letters" — flag as [FAIR HOUSING: review before sharing with seller]. Brokerage-specific policies vary; Compass + eXp + Side + KW + Anywhere have published policies discouraging or prohibiting buyer-letter forwarding to seller for Fair Housing reasons.
   • Buyer "spouse approval" or "attorney review beyond state-standard window" contingencies that effectively reopen the offer.
   • Non-traditional financing (seller financing, subject-to, wraparound, novation) — flag as [NON-STANDARD: route to attorney].
   • Cash offer with proof-of-funds older than 30 days, from non-institutional source, or with formatting suggestive of fabrication — flag as [FRAUD-SCREEN] and route to ai-fraud-defense-playbook.md's offer-fraud screen.

7. Apply the brokerage policy overlay. Each major brokerage has policies the listing agent must respect even if the seller wants otherwise. Load the loaded brokerage's policy:

   • Compass: Compass Concierge + Compass Bridge Loan eligibility (impacts seller's net-equivalent if buyer is a Compass client); Coming Soon / Private Exclusive disclosure; buyer-letter forwarding policy.
   • eXp: eXp Realty's commission-display + dual-agency rules; eXp Express Offers policy if the listing brokerage is eXp.
   • Side: Side's brokerage-of-record requirements; commission-display.
   • KW: KW Command commission-display; KW Listings concierge integration.
   • Anywhere (Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Sotheby's, Better Homes, ERA, Corcoran): Anywhere AI document-processing pre-pass (per the 4/27/2026 Compass-Anywhere disclosure that ⅔ of brokerage documents flow through Anywhere AI before agent review); rider requirements for new-development listings.
   • BHHS / Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices: brokerage-internal Cendant relocation rider review for any offer involving a relocation buyer.
   • Sotheby's / Douglas Elliman / Compass at the luxury tier: white-glove offer-presentation conventions (the offer summary is not just a checklist; it is a delivered packet to the seller).
   • @properties / Howard Hanna / regional brokerages: brokerage-specific commission-rebate disclosures; specific listing-side rider review. The brokerage overlay is a 30-second check, not a re-review. If the brokerage policy contradicts a term in the offer, surface it as a [BROKERAGE-POLICY] note for the listing agent's discretion.

8. Multi-offer mode (only when 2+ offers): Build a comparison matrix with the seller's prioritization weights from input #3 applied. Columns: Offer ID / Headline Price / Net to Seller / Down % / Loan Type / Earnest Money / Inspection / Appraisal / Financing / Sale-of-Home / Closing Date / Possession / Concessions / Buyer-Broker Comp / Red Flags / Strength Score (0–100). The Strength Score is computed by a weighted sum across the seller's six prioritization axes — not by a generic "best offer" rubric. Output ranking by Strength Score, but never recommend acceptance — surface the trade-offs (e.g., "Offer B has the highest net-to-seller; Offer A has the fastest close; Offer C has the fewest contingencies"). The seller decides; the agent presents.

9. Compliance Sweep — 7 checks (run before delivery):

   • Fair Housing: Buyer-side framing in the offer, in any cover letter, or in any rationale paragraph the agent considers including in the seller presentation, scanned for protected-class proxies (family composition, religion, national origin, disability, source-of-income mention beyond loan type). Buyer letters flagged for brokerage-policy review before forwarding.
   • No buyer-demographics framing in the review: The review never references buyer name, race, family composition, religion, age, or photos. The seller-facing comparison references offers as "Offer A / Offer B / Offer C" or by anonymized identifier, not by buyer name in the comparison-matrix headline.
   • State advertising + listing-agreement compliance: No comparison framing implies a guarantee or a prediction of acceptance.
   • Truthfulness — no fabricated market color: If the agent did not provide MOI, DOM, or comp data, the review marks [VERIFY] and does not invent.
   • Brokerage-policy compliance: Loaded brokerage's listing-side requirements honored.
   • Fiduciary discipline: The review never expresses a personal opinion on which offer to accept. The agent is the seller's fiduciary; the seller decides.
   • NAR Article 12 truthfulness: No "best offer," "winning offer," "exclusive opportunity" framing in the review unless cited as the seller's framing for their own decision.

10. Output the deliverables. Three artifacts, every time:

    • Seller One-Page Skim (single offer: 1 page; multi-offer: 1 page comparison matrix + 1 page summary). Designed for the seller to read in 60 seconds.
    • Listing-Agent Deep-Read (3–5 pages — the parsed checklist, every contingency, the timeline, the red flags with severity, the brokerage-policy overlay, and the Counter-Point Candidates).
    • Counter-Point Candidates (a hand-off bullet list to negotiation-script-generator.md). For each non-standard term, the candidate counter (e.g., "Counter to 21-day inspection: counter at 14 with a one-time 3-day extension only by mutual written agreement"). The list is candidates, not commitments. The artifacts are saved to outputs/[date]-offer-review-[address].md if the user confirms.

Critical rules:

• Never give legal advice. The review is analytical; it is not a legal opinion. Any attorney-state (NY, NJ, MA, GA, IL after attorney review) requires the seller's attorney as the final gate.
• Never recommend acceptance or rejection. The seller decides; the agent presents.
• Never include buyer-letter content in any seller-facing artifact without a brokerage-policy + Fair Housing review check.
• Never fabricate net-to-seller numbers, MOI bands, DOM stats, or concession averages. If a number is missing, the review marks [VERIFY] and prompts the agent for the missing input.
• Never reference buyer demographics in the seller-facing comparison matrix.
• Never recommend a state-specific contingency timeline that violates the loaded form's default conventions without flagging the deviation.
• Never apply a generic standard-vs-non-standard baseline to a state with its own conventions; the state baseline is canonical.
• Never use the agent's voice clone or AI avatar to deliver the seller-facing presentation in first person without ai-marketing-compliance-audit.md's C4 disclosure check.
• The skill produces methodology + analysis — not the offer-presentation script. The script is negotiation-script-generator.md's output.

Example Output

Input summary: Listing: 4829 Glenalbyn Dr, Highland Park, Los Angeles 90042. List price $875K. DOM 6. Listing brokerage: Coldwell Banker (Anywhere). Listing agent: Sarah Chen. Sub-MOI: 2.4 months (per market-analysis-summary.md Mar 2026 Highland Park 90042 SFR 3BR+ — High confidence). Seller priorities (per client-conversation-intelligence.md Pass 1 listing-appointment dictation, the Hendersons): (1) highest net, (2) fewest contingencies, (3) closing by June 30, (4) 30-day rent-back at no charge, (5) lowest carry-risk. State: CA (CAR-RPA). Three offers received April 27.

Seller One-Page Skim:

Three offers received on 4829 Glenalbyn Dr — comparison summary

What this means for the Hendersons (per stated priorities):

• Offer A has the highest net-to-seller, the fastest close, and the cleanest contingency stack. Pre-underwritten conventional with appraisal-gap-to-$920K is the lowest carry-risk option.
• Offer B is close behind — slightly lower net, slightly later close, but lower earnest money and a $5K appraisal-gap cap (vs. Offer A's $25K gap room). Lower carry-risk than C, slightly higher than A.
• Offer C has the highest headline price but the lowest net, the latest close (misses the June 30 priority), an active sale-of-home contingency the buyer cannot waive without listing their home, and FHA appraisal/repair risk that the seller's 1962 mid-century siding could trigger. Highest carry-risk.

Recommended next step: Listing agent to schedule offer-presentation meeting with seller. Counter-point candidates available in the deep-read.

Listing-Agent Deep-Read (excerpt):

Offer A — parsed:

• Buyer: [identifier — anonymized in seller view per Fair Housing discipline]
• Buyer agent: [Lena Park, The Agency]; buyer-broker compensation requested 2.5% (matches MLS-disclosed 2.5%; no negotiation needed at the comp line).
• Pre-underwriting: Rocket Mortgage UWM-equivalent letter dated 4/24/2026 (within 30-day window; institutional source).
• Earnest money: $26,850 (3% of $895K); deposited within 3 business days of acceptance into escrow at First American.
• Inspection: 10 days (vs. CA 17-day default — buyer accepting tighter window; standard non-standard for a hot Highland Park listing). Scope: general + sewer + mold. Right-to-cancel-only (no repair-request right). Strong.
• Appraisal: Waived contingency to $920,000 cap — buyer covers the difference if appraisal lands between $895K and $920K. Below $895K, appraisal contingency reactivates. This is the strongest single term in the offer.
• Financing: 21-day loan-approval deadline. Pre-underwritten letter mitigates risk.
• Sale-of-home: Waived.
• Closing: June 22 (8 days ahead of the seller's June 30 priority).
• Possession: 30-day rent-back at no charge per CAR-RBN form, possession to seller until July 22. Matches priority.
• Concessions: None requested.
• Buyer letter: NONE attached. (If attached, would be flagged for Anywhere brokerage-policy review per Coldwell Banker's published 2024 buyer-letter discouragement policy.)

Compliance sweep — Offer A:

• C1 Fair Housing: Pass (no protected-class proxies in offer; no buyer letter).
• C2 No buyer demographics in review: Pass (anonymized as "Offer A").
• C3 State + listing-agreement compliance: Pass.
• C4 Truthfulness: Pass (all referenced market data sourced from market-analysis-summary.md Mar 2026 + Hendersons' listing-appointment dictation).
• C5 Brokerage policy (Anywhere/Coldwell Banker): Pass — buyer-broker comp matches MLS-disclosed 2.5%; Anywhere AI document-processing pre-pass run on offer document (no flags).
• C6 Fiduciary discipline: Pass — review presents trade-offs, never recommends acceptance.
• C7 NAR Article 12 truthfulness: Pass — no "best offer" framing; comparison Strength Score is presented as weighted to seller's stated priorities, not as a universal ranking.

Counter-Point Candidates → negotiation-script-generator.md:

For Offer A — minimal counter recommended given the term strength. If countering, candidate counters:

1. None recommended on price; Offer A is at $895K vs. list $875K — 2.3% above list. Acceptance candidate.
2. Optional: counter inspection from 10 days to 8 days (already short of CA default; risk of buyer push-back, low upside).

For Offer B — counter candidates:

1. Counter price to $895K to match Offer A.
2. Counter appraisal-gap from $5K to $20K (closing the gap-coverage delta vs. Offer A).
3. Counter inspection from 17 days to 10 days.

For Offer C — counter candidates (only if seller wants to keep the offer alive):

1. Counter to remove the active sale-of-home contingency (high probability buyer cannot agree).
2. Counter closing date from July 18 to June 30.
3. Counter buyer-paid concession from $12,000 closing-cost credit to $0.
4. Note: even with all three counters accepted, Offer C's net-to-seller is still below Offer A and B.

Hand-offs:

• purchase-agreement-intake.md — once the seller selects an offer, intake produces the full contract-to-close timeline, contingency-deadline calendar, and TC briefing.
• negotiation-script-generator.md — receives the Counter-Point Candidates list and produces the seller-side counter scripts.
• transaction-coordinator-brief.md — receives the parsed key terms + timeline assessment; produces the TC pre-flight brief.
• client-conversation-intelligence.md — the seller's offer-presentation conversation gets debriefed back through Pass 1 to capture any new prioritization shifts or seller intent signals.
• ai-fraud-defense-playbook.md — invoked if any offer triggers the [FRAUD-SCREEN] flag.
• ai-marketing-compliance-audit.md — invoked before any seller-facing video or presentation that uses an L2 cloned voice or L3 stock synthetic narration of the offer summary.