But for a one off counter offer it isn't too much to ask for it to be in writing. 

When they counteroffer you, make sure you have an inspection and appraisal contingency in there.What was the asking price?

It took a few months to hear a response, but eventually The bank counter offered with 40k instead of their initial 60k.Lessons learned?

Selling agent stated bank would not negotiate but we made a counteroffer anyway.

As with first property, we made a simple counteroffer to the bank on this foreclosure and picked it up at a good value.

Just make sure you're not wasting their time or they probably won't work with you for very long.The other way to do it, is to fire off tons of lowball offers and see which ones come back to you with counter-offers/accepts. 

We looked at maybe 4-5 properties before making one offer that got accepted after a counter offer. 

I will need access to some online system to send/receive offers and counteroffers electronically? 

The act of making a counter offer in writing, by law, voids their original offer and they are absolutely no longer obligated to it.Even if you hadn’t voided their original offer with your counter, there is no ability to “sue them to force performance”.  

Hopefully I'll have enough funds to capitalize on the event too because I'm still forgiving myself for not accepting some of the counter offers I was given 5-7 years ago!