Blog, Home Buyer Tips, Home Seller Tips
Home Seller just isn’t negotiating!
June 28, 2010 by Doug Francis · 2 Comments
Image by bulldog1 via Flickr
One of the hardest parts of buying a home is making an offer. Really, it isn’t easy to come up with the right offer, and I always tell my Northern Virginia real estate clients that their initial offer should be their “ideal scenario” from the start.
- Offer price, determined after looking at recent sales and condition of the home
- Closing or Settlement date, when do you really need to be in the home?
No, that isn’t everything to factor into your offer strategy but they are two essential elements because they are key starting points. Either of these can become major stumbling blocks that may stop a home seller from wanting to negotiate with you at all.
Home Seller motivations are important to understand because sellers will typically have a bottom line number and an ideal time-frame too (an ideal scenario). I look at this information as part of a “pre-negotiation” for both seller and buyer.
Incompatible time-frames can be a real estate deal breaker
Having worked both sides of the fence here, I know it is important to communicate a home seller client’s ideal scenario to a prospective home buyer or REALTOR who has indicated that they are putting together an offer. For a recent seller client, he was very specific and wanted to settle June 23rd which was information that I shared with all interested parties. There were three competing offers all with different offer amounts but with June 23rd as the settlement date.
One of my buyer clients submitted an aggressive offer recently on a Vienna home and, although that neighborhood has had no sales in the past two months, the seller is holding firm on the price. Unfortunately, the seller’s REALTOR shared no “ideal scenario” information that could get things moving. In fact, that home seller really isn’t negotiating at all which makes me wonder why they are listing the property in the first place? Yes, the offer is still out there and has even been improved over two weeks… yet it remains a mystery.
So, understand your “ideal scenario” before you list your home or make an offer on a home because it is essential to making sure a negotiation is even going to happen.
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I have found that it is just as difficult negotiating with my own client as it is to negotiate with another REALTOR. Many times a good, but not perfect, offer will come over to be presented and the Seller will want to hold there ground or counter offer with terms thinking the Buyer will continue negotiations with another offer.
It may not always be the best strategy to sign whatever is presented without any modification but, depending on the situation, the consequences could be a solid Buyer walking away from the deal.
You write, “…makes me wonder why they are listing the property in the first place?” Many times, I wonder the same thing. I often have to ask, “You do want to sell the home, don’t you?” Of course, the Seller always says, “yes.” but I really wonder.