How to Negotiate a Counter Offer as a Home Buyer

 A counteroffer gives you the opportunity to renegotiate a better deal for all parties involved in the process of buying a house. To be a smart negotiator you need to go beyond negotiating the asking price.

There are Three Possible Results to Your Home Buying Offer

After finally finding the right home, you’re finally ready to make an offer. You need to talk to your real estate agent to find out how much other homes in the area have been selling out for. This information will help you make a fair offer that stays within your budget. You don’t want to lowball the seller and you don’t want to overpay. Once you have your offer in mind and prepared a purchase agreement you need to wait for the seller’s response. It can go three ways: the seller can agree to your offer and you can continue with the process, the seller can reject your offer and you will need to continue with your home search, or the seller can present a counteroffer, which gives you a chance to negotiate. The homeowner wants you to buy their home, they just need a better deal. You have to be smart when you’re negotiating and consider there are other things beside the price that you can negotiate. Here are some of them.

Sale Price

You and the seller are probably not going to agree on the sale price at first. The seller might want more than what you offered, especially if you went below asking price. You can suggest meeting in the middle of their asking price and your original offer. It’s also possible that the seller’s counteroffer states that the asking price is non-negotiable but they’re open to negotiating on other areas.

Closing Date

Sometimes a sale doesn’t go through because the seller and the buyer can’t seem to agree on a closing date. Perhaps the seller is not ready to move out of the house because they still haven’t found a new one or are still in the middle of their home buying process. Generally, you get to move in as soon as the title is transferred, but if you’re in no hurry to move in you can change the closing date. Offer a more flexible move-in date to help the seller or lease them back the house for a short period. They would have to pay for the rent, utilities, and upkeep while they remain in the property, but it will give them more time to move out.

Closing Costs

The closing costs include first and final payments, and other one-time fees. You will not be the only one paying for the closing costs, the seller will need to spend some money too. Usually the buyer has to pay for the home inspection and home appraisal, title insurance, and other costs. You can ask the seller to cover some of the closing costs or to split the costs equally. Once you agree on who will pay what, you need to request your title insurance policy. It can take a bit of time to clear any liens or other issues with the title, so you want to act fast. Call Advanced Title Company at (970) 255-7677 to request your title insurance and get the process underway.

Personal Property

You will be paying for the house and major systems and fixtures that come with it. But it is possible to purchase some of the personal property found in the house. Let’s say you liked the patio furniture or the washing machine. They’re probably not included in the asking price, but you can request to pay some more for those things. It also goes the other way around, if you don’t want something to remain in the property you can request the seller to remove it.

Repairs and Renovations

The house will most likely need some repairs and renovations and a home inspection will prove that. You can choose to ask the seller to lower the asking price and purchase the home as it is, or negotiate for them to make some repairs before you move in. You can also suggest splitting the cost of the repairs if they turn out to be major and you still wish to buy the home.

Warranty

You will want to make sure that the major appliances and systems that remain in the house won’t break down as soon as you move in. request a warranty for your first year in the house which will cover the repairs in case any major system breaks down.

Purchase Your Title Insurance in Fruita

As soon as your new offer gets accepted you need to get your title insurance process started. If you want a quality service, you need to call Advanced Title Company at (970) 255-7677 to request your title insurance in Fruita.