How to Read and Understand a Real Estate Deal Sheet

Finding the right apartment or home, especially in Brooklyn, a top location in the NYC real estate market, is an exciting next step in your real estate journey. Once you have made an offer, the seller’s attorney or listing agent will give you a deal sheet or transaction sheet.

A deal sheet is a document based on your offer that includes major deal points of the transaction. This includes the price you will pay, concessions, amount of financing, and closing date.

While the seller’s attorney or agent is usually responsible for drafting the deal sheet, It’s helpful for the seller and buyer to know what goes into it. Below we will guide you through some of the most frequently asked questions about a real estate deal sheet.

What is the purpose of a Deal Sheet?

A deal sheet serves multiple purposes. It details the terms and conditions of an offer on a property, clearly outlining any agreements that have been reached between the buyer and seller. It also serves as a tool to record important information such as loan amounts, contingencies, inspection items, dates of completion, and closing costs.

Additionally, the deal sheet ensures that all parties involved know the transaction terms and any requirements for sale completion. It also acts as a guide of contacts involved in the transaction with each individual’s contact information provided, including the buyer, seller, buyer’s broker, seller’s broker, buyer’s attorney, seller’s attorney, and management company of the property being bought/sold.

What information should be included on my Deal Sheet?

On a deal sheet, it is important that you include all the necessary information about your transaction. This includes basic details such as the estimated purchase price, property address, contact information for all parties involved in the transaction, and preferred dates for finalizing the deal.

You also want to be sure any special financing conditions or contingencies that may be associated with the sale, any special fees associated with the offer, deposit amounts and deadlines, and closing costs are included.

Here are real estate deal sheet examples if you would like to familiarize yourself.

Is a Deal Sheet Binding?

Although a deal sheet outlines the potential terms of an agreement, it is not legally binding.

The deal sheet should be the first step in understanding a potential transaction. You can negotiate before and after the deal sheet is sent out. When the parties are comfortable with all aspects of the offer, they can move on to creating an official contract that is signed by both parties to make it binding.

What are the steps between a deal sheet and a signed contract?

After a deal sheet is created and made available for both parties to review, they should have an open dialogue about the deal. During this phase, it’s important that both sides ask questions so that they can fully understand all terms of the agreement.

The lawyers will then review proposed contracts and negotiate any other terms within the contract. Once all parties agree to the terms – and all of those terms are in the contract – then the buyer and seller will sign, and you’ll officially be In Contract!

To summarize, a deal sheet is mainly used as a record-keeping tool for easy reference on the deal. It’ll mostly be used by your attorneys and real estate agents, rarely will you need to reference it. For you, it ends up marking a stage of the buying process that is one step closer to Closing, and one step firmer than “Offer Accepted.”

Have more questions about the deal sheet and what that means for you? Feel free to get in touch! We’d love to help you out!

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If you’re interested in learning about buying or selling in Brooklyn, download our free Buying Into Brooklyn Ebook or our Seller’s Guide. We share a ton of valuable resources to demystify the buying and selling process.