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Deal or No Deal: Negotiating an Offer on Your Home
If you list your home during a seller's market, there's a good chance you'll get the offer you want without a lot of back-and-forth negotiation. But some buyers and sellers like the back-and-forth. They expect it. And if you don't negotiate, one of you might have second thoughts about the deal.
Our real estate agents work with home sellers throughout the marketing process. We understand that sellers want the best price and buyers want the best deal. Negotiation is inevitable if you hope to move beyond these mismatched goals. Here are a few rules to help your deal go smoothly.
Negotiate confidently
As with so many aspects of selling your home, confidence is important. Negotiation confidence comes from believing that the price is a right and knowing that your home is worth it. With these facts in mind, you can stick with your asking price or back off a bit for the sake of the deal. You can feel safe rejecting a low offer and waiting for a better one to come along.
Don't play games
Negotiating a home sale is a serious financial event for everyone involved. It's a time for honesty, integrity, and trust, not gamesmanship. Some buyers love to negotiate, but if you play games, you may turn off every buyer that comes along.
- Be clear about what you want.
- When a seller gives you what you ask for, don't push for more.
- Don't pit buyers against one another.
- Never threaten to renege on a deal or pull your home off the market.
- Don't use fixtures and appliances as negotiation hostages.
- Don't haggle for the sake of haggling.
Don't reject an offer because it came too soon
Don't feel compelled to reject a good offer simply because it came sooner than you expected. Houses do sell quickly. Isn't that the goal? If the first offer makes you happy, you can hope the next one will be better. But what if it isn't? Sometimes it's prudent to take the "bird in the hand."
Get it in writing
Even if you enjoy negotiation just for the thrill of it, you must get the details in writing. Each bid, counter-offer, or pre-sale promise could be an element of your final sales agreement. You won't know until you make a deal. It's important to eliminate potential discrepancies by documenting the details in writing.
Read before you sign
Read any agreement carefully before you sign, especially if it's prepared by a buyer's agent or attorney. A buyer's representative has a duty to protect the buyer's interests, not yours. Any document they prepare could bind you to contingency provisions and conditions you didn't intend to meet. It could commit you to the deal but give the buyer an easy out.
Minimize post-inspection negotiations
To prevent post-inspection repair issues from sabotaging your sale, get your home into great shape before you list it. When you declutter, clean, and repair everything inside and out, you'll have fewer inspection concerns. If you do receive a post-inspection to-do list, handle it reasonably. Until you sign the final paperwork, you're still negotiating the sale.
Be flexible about closing dates
If the buyer wants to negotiate a quick closing, make it happen. Once you've made your deal, you wouldn't want a scheduling conflict to become a last-minute deal breaker.
Let Us Help
Home negotiations can be challenging unless you have a real estate professional making the deal on your behalf. Contact Wagner Realty when you're buying or selling a home. We'll guide you through the marketing process from pre-listing to closing and we'll handle your negotiation challenges.
