WHY LIST HOME WITH REAL ESTATE AGENT - NEGOTIATING THE SALE (PART IV)

This is my final post as to the reasons home sellers benefit by working with a full service real estate broker, like myself and The Norton Agency.   Negotiating is an art.  While I consider myself an expert negotiator on behalf of others, I’m awful at it when I’m buying.  I just want to be told the price, and either I’ll pay it or not.  And I’ve learned that most everything is negotiable.  I could tell story after story of me walking up somewhere paying the asking price, then learning later someone else got the same thing for much less money simply by negotiating. 

When buying or selling a house, emotions are most always involved.  Home is where we make some of our most fond memories; it’s where we go to escape and cocoon.  Likewise, it’s where our friends experience us and get to know us better, as we really are. 

I am asked almost daily what percentage rate we charge to sell houses.  I tell the potential seller the rate at which we list.  And sometimes, I never hear from that person again.  I wish all sellers knew this:  It is easy to lose 1, 2% or even more of the sales price, simply due to poor or no negotiating skills.   And I don’t mean just negotiating the sale price.  The negotiating doesn’t end there.

Typically, a Due Diligence Period of between 10 and 14 days allows the buyer an opportunity to have inspections done and research the neighborhood.  The prospective buyer then presents an Amendment to Address Concerns back to the Seller.  This Amendment will spell out what the Buyers want done to address concerns discovered.  In some cases, the buyer will just request a price concession in lieu of repairs.  Or the seller might counter back with an amount of money reduced from sales price in lieu of repairs. 

To demonstrate this, I’ll talk about a specific sale where my negotiating skills saved my seller client thousands of dollars.  The buyer requested almost $4000 in repairs on a house listed at $149,900.  The seller asked for my advice.  My advice in this instance was to just refuse, due to the fact that she had negotiated to her bottom dollar.  My advice would have been different had the contract been for list price.  While the seller might have willingly agreed to and signed this amendment or agreed to some amount less, she followed my advice, and we ended up with the sale ‘as is.’  The seller was delighted. 

When I submit an offer, representing a buyer client, I always submit with the offer an explanation as to how the buyer arrived at the offer and why it is for the amount being offered (unless it’s list price or better, which is now sometimes the case).   Regardless of the offer, I think it is important that the seller know something about the buyers, and why they want that house as home.  An explanation as to how the offering price was put together lets the seller know what factors influenced the buying decision and amount offered.  Most always, the seller’s agent will forward this explanation on with the offer to the seller.  While the money is important, most sellers want buyers who will enjoy and cherish the home as they did.

If you considering selling, please contact me.  My website is KimWaters.com.

Hope you and yours enjoy a wonderful Memorial Day holiday weekend! 

Til next week,

Kim