A counter-offer is not a reply to your offer. At law it replaces it — which means your original terms came off the table along with your price.
People picture a negotiation as one document with numbers being adjusted. That is not what is happening. A counter-offer is, in law, a rejection of your offer combined with a new offer going the other way — and once it exists, your original is generally no longer something you can turn around and accept.
Two consequences follow, and buyers miss both. Your other terms went with it, not only your price. And the roles have reversed: the seller is now the one waiting, and the document in front of you has its own expiry time.
You are not deciding whether to accept a higher price. You are deciding whether to accept an entirely new contract that happens to look familiar.
The price change is the part everyone looks at, and often the least interesting. Compare the counter line by line against what you sent:
Accept it, counter it back, or let it expire. Countering again is normal and not an insult — most Calgary deals are made in two or three passes, and a counter that moves on terms rather than price is often what closes the gap.
Two things to hold onto. Nothing binds anyone until both sides have signed the same document, so a deal is not done because it is close. And a seller who countered you can still be entertaining other buyers, so treating a counter as a guarantee is how people lose houses they had almost bought.