Offers & contracts
An offer in DeedSpring is a set of terms first and a PDF second. You write the terms once; the state's purchase contract and the addenda those terms call for are suggested, filled from the terms, and sent for signature. Counters are new versions of the same offer, and accepting the final one opens the closing.
Writing an offer
Write an offer lives on the Offers desk, on a buyer deal, and on a property page. The same dialog works for an offer your buyer is making and for an offer that has come in on your listing from another brokerage.
Who is buying what
The terms
The form and the addenda
Save
Required before a contract can be generated
A buyer, the property address, the price, earnest money, the closing date, the financing type and the offer expiry. The Contract card tells you which are missing; everything else can stay blank and the matching blanks stay empty on the PDF.
Which addenda get suggested
| When the terms say… | Suggested addendum |
|---|---|
| Financing is conventional, FHA, VA or USDA | Third-party financing addendum |
| Financing is FHA or VA | FHA / VA amendatory clause |
| Financing is seller financing | Seller financing addendum |
| Appraisal terms differ from the form's default | Appraisal addendum |
| The home was built before 1978 | Lead-based paint disclosure |
| The property is in an owners' association | Owners' association addendum |
| The buyer moves in before closing | Buyer's temporary lease / occupancy |
| The seller stays on after closing | Seller's temporary lease / occupancy |
| The property is a condominium | Condominium resale addendum |
| The offer is a backup | Backup contract addendum |
| Earnest money is held by a title company | Title company / escrow receipt |
Addenda are per state. One that is not installed under Config → Forms is still listed so nobody forgets it — it just says “Not installed” until the brokerage adds the PDF.
The offer workspace
| Card | What it does |
|---|---|
| Terms | The structured terms this version is built on. Edit them here until the contract is out; after that, changes are a counter. |
| Contract | The contract form, Generate & send contract, and the addenda plan with Generate & send (or Add) per addendum. The blanks bound to the terms, property and parties fill themselves; the signers come from the parties; special provisions go into the form's own blank. |
| Signatures | Every signing packet on this version and who has signed. A counter voids anything still out for signature on the old terms. |
| Parties | Buyers, sellers, the agents on both sides, the title company, the lender. Add a party by name and role; the next generated form picks them up. |
| Versions | The chain of counters — which version this one counters and which one superseded it — with the property and the deal it belongs to. |
Actions
| Button | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Mark submitted | The signed packet has gone to the other side. The offer waits on them. |
| Counter | Writes our counter as the next version. Change only what you are changing; the parties and the contract plan carry over. Anything out for signature on the old terms is voided as superseded. |
| Log their counter | Records the other side's counter as the next version. Type the changed terms, or drop their PDF on the dialog and DeedSpring reads the terms off it for you to check. |
| Accept / They accepted | They (or we) signed the live terms as written. Opens the closing — see below. |
| Decline / They declined | Closes this version with no further action. |
| Mark withdrawn | We pulled the offer. |
| Hold as backup / Make primary | On a listing with more than one offer, which one is in first position. |
Whose paperwork is it?
When the live version is the other side's, the Contract card says so: their terms came on their brokerage's paper. Accepting signs their version; countering writes ours on our form.
What accepting does
A closing opens for each side you represent
One closing when you have the buyer or the seller; two when it is an in-house deal. The closing carries the price, closing date, earnest money, option period and title company, with the executed contract attached and the contract terms copied on.
The property goes pending and the deals go under contract
The deal milestone Accepted completes, the Client Agent writes the accepted-offer summary, and the next task on the playbook — hand the file to the Transaction Coordinator — comes due.
The Transaction Coordinator takes over
It reads the executed contract into the closing's contract terms and dates, builds the critical-dates calendar, and runs the file from there. If your brokerage runs a contract compliance review, it opens now.
What the client sees
The client portal's Offers page shows the live version of each offer on their deal — the price and the key terms, the status, and anything waiting for their signature. Buyers see the offers they have made; sellers see every offer on their listing side by side, with the Client Agent's comparison when more than one is in. Superseded versions and the other side's private notes are not shown.
Who does what
| Person or agent | Role in offers |
|---|---|
| The agent | Writes the terms, chooses the form, generates and sends, counters, accepts. Every one of those is a human action. |
| Client Agent | Prepares the offer brief for a buyer, walks the buyer through the terms, summarises competing offers for a seller, and drafts the messages around them. It does not write, send or accept an offer. |
| Transaction Coordinator | Picks up the executed contract once the closing exists. |
| Compliance Reviewer | Reviews the executed contract file when the brokerage's contract review is on — see Compliance review. |
Forms and signing
Contract forms, their field bindings and the state libraries are managed under Config → Forms; the signing provider under Config → Signing. A form set up without its PDF generates nothing until the brokerage uploads it.