Negotiating An Offer on your Home
The next series of articles I am writing for Suite101.com will discuss aspects involved with negotiating an offer on your home. I hope you read each of these articles and learn just about everything you need to know--but if you do not...and still have a question feel free to email me!!! You have done a fabulous job preparing and marketing your home. I fact, you have done such a good job someone wants to make an offer--now what do you do? Up until now you really haven't had much time to think about this. Your focus has been on preparing your home for this moment, what a fabulous achievement. Congratulations.
Those who know me will tell you that I am not one to sugar coat things. This is the most challenging aspect of the entire process. The buyers are trying to negotiate the best deal for them. You are trying to negotiate the best deal for you. In a "For Sale by Owner" situation there is no go between person to assist in the negotiations. As you will soon learn, a professional really earns their fee in this part of the process. Negotiations can make for some tense moments, you are acting as the seller and the professional in this situation. It is important that you understand your dual roles and act accordingly for each. This is where you are going to earn the money you saved by not hiring a professional. Expect to work for it.
There are three essential parts to a valid contract. Offer, acceptance and consideration. This chapter addresses all of them. The offer, what the seller is want to receive for his consideration. Acceptance, both parties agreement to the terms, and consideration, what the seller is willing to give you in exchange for what you are willing to give him. These will be addressed at length a bit later in this series.
This series of articles will provide you with suggestions on handling certain situations. The ultimate decisions and negotiations, however, depend on you and your motivations for selling. You may choose to stand firm on some items, while others might not be worth fighting for.
If you employed a real estate agent, this would be where they would obtain a written offer directly from the interested party and/or their representative. The real estate agent would serve as a buffer. In this scenario you would avoid being put on the spot, or at least feeling that way. I do believe that the same considerations are taken to negotiate whether or not an agent is involved.
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