Realtor Loreal Greathouse Shares Tips on Writing an Offer and the Negotiation Process

You’ve scavenged the land and found the perfect house. It has everything you are looking for and more! Your Realtor should now advise you on your offer strategy. Maybe you need to offer full price because it’s a desirable area. Maybe there are multiple offers and you need to evaluate if the home is worth more than asking price to you. Maybe the house is in an area with lots of inventory and you can take the risk to offer a little less than asking price. Whatever the situation, a skilled Realtor can best advise you.

So you and your Realtor have come up with a plan and decided on an offer price. What’s next? Generally speaking the buyer will have 24-48 hours to respond to your offer. They will most likely do one of the following: Accept the offer or counter the offer. Usually, they counter. A buyer and seller could go back and forth numerous times before they come to an agreement, so settle in and try to relax. This is a game of give and take now.

Here are some tips for negotiating:
1. Make sure your Realtor does a Market Analysis for the area so you know what homes in the area are selling for.
2. Offer a fair price to start. If you low ball the sellers they may get offended and now you’ve started off with a bad taste in their mouths. It’s ok to offer less than asking, but make sure your offer isn’t too far off base with current market values.
3. Get to know the seller if you can. What’s motivating them to move? Is it a job transfer, a death in the family, a divorce? The buyer’s motivation is a very important clue on how flexible they may be with price and timing. It’s also good to know ahead of time if this is going to be an emotional sale for the sellers.
4. Once you know a little about the sellers, let them know a little about you. Include a letter with your offer that explains why you want to purchase their home. Just don’t reveal too much or you may alert the sellers that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get this “perfect” home.
5. Also, you should decide what’s most important to you during the negotiation. Do you need to get the lowest price possible in order to get approval from your lender? Do you absolutely need the seller to help you with closing costs? Do you want all of the repairs done or can you fix a few things on your own? If you decide what’s most important to you up front, you can smooth the way during the negotiations by compromising with the seller on some things while holding out for the ones that matter most to you.
6. While negotiating, make sure you get everything in writing and initialed by all parties. If you are asking for personal items or appliances like washer and dryer it’s also good to get a photo and serial number of the items just in case the sellers try to do a switcheroo on you.
7. Another strategy that goes along with the “give and take” is to actually ask for more than you really want. If you ask for the washer and dryer but don’t really need them, then that is an easy thing for you to give up during the negotiation process.
8. The most important thing when negotiating is to keep calm. It can be a very emotional process to sell a home especially if there are special circumstances for the move. Negotiations work best when both parties are reasonable and willing to make some compromises. Try not to let your emotions take control. Listen to the seller and try to understand where they are coming from. Maybe that chandelier you really want in the dining room is not negotiable because it belonged to the seller’s deceased mother.

For more real estate advice, contact Loreal Greathouse at (904) 940-5000 or lgreathouse@davidsonrealtyinc.com.