Bank Counter offer after acceptance?

[David Christie]

I made an offer on a foreclosure (REO) property in my area. The company handling the foreclosure for the bank accepted my offer 3 months ago and informed us that the bank would take about 4 months to close the deal.

Yesterday, the bank replied countering our offer from $325K to $375K.  Has anyone seen this before?  I figured once the offer was accepted, that the price was set.  How can the bank counter our offer this late in the game?  We are countering back with the list of repairs and bids we have from contractors to demonstrate the house is not worth the amount they are asking, but I am unclear how this is working.

Any insights would be helpful.