When you are selling your home, you want to get as much money as possible for it. Unfortunately, you may find that the buyers want to offer you significantly less than you had planned on. When you negotiate with them to see if you can come to a price that you all can agree on, here are tips on responding to offers and ways how you can make negotiations go smoother.
Respond to the Offer
When you are trying to sell your house and receive a purchase offer from a buyer, you will have the chance to read through it and respond to the buyer. It is vital that you carefully analyze the contract details before responding and it is also important to know what your options are with responding. Here are several things you should know as you prepare to respond to the purchase offer you received.
List the Things You Like About the Offer
The first thing to do when you receive an offer for your home is read through the whole thing making notes of the things you like about the offer. Do you like the price? Would you be happy selling it for that amount? If so, these are things to include on your list of things you like and there may be a lot of things that you can include if the offer is a good one.
List the Things You Do Not Like About the Offer
Secondly, you should view the things you do not like about the offer. For example, is the offer amount less than you hoped for? Is the buyer asking for too many contingencies? You should compare the things you like and the things you do not like as you determine how to proceed with the offer.
Respond Quickly
One important thing to note about this is that you will have just a small amount of time to make a decision about the offer. If you do not respond within the time frame listed on the offer, the offer is void. In other words, you should make sure you know exactly how much time you have, and you should make sure you respond within that amount of time.
There are three main ways to respond to the offer. If the offer is really bad, you could simply ignore the offer and allow the time frame to lapse. This again would void the deal and you could wait for another person to make an offer on the house. The second option is to accept the deal just as it is, and this is a nice and easy option if the offer is good. The final option is to counter the offer with changes that you want in it.
When you counter it, you’re starting negotiations. The buyer will either accept your offer or bring up another counter. As the two parties discuss things back and forth, you’ll be able to come to an agreement everyone is satisfied with.
Have an Experienced Real Estate Agent Help
An experienced real estate agent can be priceless when it comes time to sell your home. They will have quite a bit of experience dealing with negotiations, so they have the skills to make the process go as smoothly as possible. They’ll be able to advise you on which items are reasonable concessions and where you should draw a line. Also, because they are taking care of it for you, you likely won’t have to worry much until it’s time to sign papers.
Look at What Similar Houses Are Selling For
You may be able to get a good idea as to how much your house is worth by looking to see what similar houses are selling for. You can use this information to help you both when you are setting an asking price and when you are in negotiations with the buyer.
Get an Appraisal
While you may have a general idea as to how much your home is worth, you won’t know for certain until you get an appraisal done. Most buyers will pay for an appraisal, but if you think the amount your home has been appraised for is too low, you can always pay for an additional one yourself.
Find Out What the Buyer Is Willing to Negotiate On
Some buyers might be okay with the selling price, but they may want you to make repairs or pay part of their closing costs. If you want to sell your home as quickly as possible, you may want to consider paying for some of these things. However, you aren’t obligated to do so.
You may be able to save yourself some time and money by finding out what the buyer is willing to negotiate on. They may be more than willing to pay to get that leaky sink fixed if you agree to leave them your old refrigerator so that they don’t have to buy one when they move in.
Negotiations don’t have to be difficult when you are selling your home. Just make sure that you have all of the necessary information that you need as well as the assistance of people that have the knowledge and skills to help you. If both you and the buyer are willing to work together, you may be able to sell your home without a lot of hassle.
If you would like to learn more about purchase offers and the options you have for responding to one, talk to a local real estate agent.