Whoever negotiates best will be in the best position to sell their home for top dollar, so here are a few tips that will help you negotiate with buyers.
When your home is on the market and you have an offer potentially coming in, what is the most important thing you can do? Prepare to negotiate. He or she who negotiates the best will be in the best position to sell quickly and for top dollar.
That being said, here are a few helpful tips you can follow before negotiations start so you can get a feel of how they’ll play out:
1. Check if the buyer has been qualified to buy a home. One of the first questions you must ask them is if they’ve been qualified through a certified lender.
2. Ask the buyer if they’re working with professional, licensed agent. If so, that’s good news because you can cross most of the t’s and dot most of the i’s to make sure all parties are protected.
3. See how long the buyer’s been looking for a home. If yours is the first home they’ve looked at, you might want to beware because most buyers don’t buy the first home they look at.
4. Ask if they’ve been approved to buy. It’s one thing to speak with a lender; it’s another thing to actually have at least a pre-qualification letter. Even better than a pre-qualification letter, though, is a pre-approval letter, which means all stipulations have been removed and that buyer is ready to buy your home right now.
5. Find out if they’re a contingency buyer. This means whether or not they already have a house they need to sell before they can buy your house.
6. Ask the buyer if there’s any urgency involved. Do they need to move in next week or four years from now?
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Be prepared, know your facts, get everything in writing, and create a win-win situation.
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Once you get past these tips and find that you have a ready, willing, and able buyer, it’s time to negotiate. Here are some of the negotiators you’ll deal with:
1. The “High Authority”—This is the type of buyer who brings their dad, grandpa, or some other third party who will act as the higher power to negotiate against you.
2. The “Nibblers”—The nibblers keep negotiating and don’t stop. The best way to protect yourself against them is have everything in writing and know your position so you can stay strong.
3. The “Good Guy/Bad Guy Tandem”—This is usually a husband-and-wife team—one acts as the good guy while the other acts as the bad guy. The buyer can also pull this act off with their agent. The way you protect yourself against this strategy is to have everything in writing and meet with all parties at one time to discuss every topic at hand.
4. The “Would You Take That?” negotiators—These are the people who just throw out numbers and offers.
5. The “Guilt-Trippers”—These people will try to guilt-trip you into accepting their offer by telling you about their past hardships—be they real or fabricated. There’s a lot of money on the line in a home sale, so again, stay strong
Once your offer comes in, be prepared with a counteroffer. You don’t want to wait more than a day or two, because your buyer might get anxious and move on with their home search.
Remember, when it comes to negotiations, be prepared, know your facts, get everything in writing, and create a win-win situation. That last tidbit is a hallmark of mine so everyone can walk away from the table with something they’re happy about.
If you have any questions about negotiating or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in the Raleigh area, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be glad to help you.
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