Money isn't everything when making an offer
Here is an interesting article from
MSN Real Estate. I felt this article made some good points.
I recently closed on a real estate transaction that highlighted some of the points in this article. I had buyers who knew they were competing with multiple offers on a property. They asked me my advise about how they should handle the offer. Initially they wanted to receive money back for closing costs and wanted to include personal items of the sellers in the sale. They had the cash to pay the closing costs and I also counseled them to leave the personal items out of the offer. I also suggested that they offer full price after running a comparative market analysis on the property to determine fair market value.
Scenario One- My buyers did end up purchasing the property but i found out after the closing that there were two offers higher than ours. Why did my buyers offer get accepted?
- They kept there offer clean and to the point, there were no requests for closing costs from the sellers and we kept it uncomplicated with tight dates. Closing quicker was important to the seller as they were already retired and living in another home.
- We had a very strong pre-approval letter from a lender that verified assets, income and credit and ran it though automated underwriting.
- We kept the personal items out of the offer. Selling a home that your family grew up in can be emotional. All the other offers included personal items of the sellers and those buyers got quite adamant about wanting those items. The sellers took a personal affront to the buyers stubborness.
At the end of the day we didn't press any of the sellers hot buttons and presented a strong offer. Our offer was $5,000 less than the highest buut because our offer was "clean" an The buyer and seller were both happy and received what they wanted out of the transaction.
Scenario Two A few years ago, I had a client that was looking in one town. They stumbled upon a house that they loved and had everything they wanted. It was also priced well and with-in a few days had multiple offers well over asking. My clients asked my what they needed to do to get the property. I had worked with them several times before and was very comfortable that I knew their risk tolerance and their finances. We offered $25,000 over asking as well as removed the home inspection contingency and the mortgage contingency. Once again, my buyers were not the highest offer but they purchased the property. Why?
- We removed all risk from the contract for the seller. Removing the mortgage contingency and the home inspection contingency allowed the sellers to move forward with the contract with no risk of the buyers not performing. The home was a remodeled turn of the century home and the seller was a builder. We offered to close quickly and we had a sizable deposit on the property by the Purchase and Sale. He wanted to recoup his profit as quickly as possible with as little risk.
This goes to show that money is not everything and you should talk with you agent about structuring and negotiating an offer. Will this work everytime...NO. But if you take the time to assess the situation and put your best foot forward you may just beat out other buyers. Or, if your not in a competing offer situation you may save $1,000 of dollars.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
This post was provided by Kevin Vitali of EXIT Group One Real Estate In Tewksbury MA. You can contact Kevin by email at kevin@kevinvitali.com or call 978-360-0422.
Kevin has helped numerous home buyers buy the house of their dreams. Kevin brings good buyer insight as well as strong negotiating skills to the table. Let Kevin help you buy you next home.
Real Estate Services in the northeast Massachusetts, around the Merrimack Valley, Southern New Hampshire including the towns of Andover, Billerica, Boxford, Chelmsford, Dracut, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Merrimac, North Andover, Newbury, Newburyport, North Reading, Rowley, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro, Westford, Wilmington, West Newbury