Counter offer for flip propery

[Pandu Chimata]

Hello everyone, 

We (two partners) bid on a upper fixer property in San Bernardino county on Monday and we received a counter today. I also heard through the listing agent that they had several offers by Saturday 1 PM. We are not sure why we even have received a counter since our bid is 25K less than the asking price and not a cash offer. 

Our options are A) Rent the house with minimum upgrades to get a break even. <== Immediate option

B) This is a 18000 lot so there is an option to divide the lot and build another house. <== Long term option.

Currently this lot is undivided and how do we know that the lot can be divided ?