Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
How low can you go?
Now is a great time to buy a home at a price that’s way below the listing price. You can’t do it in every market and for every house you might like, but if you are willing to commit to negotiating on price – and leave your emotions out of it – there’s a great deal awaiting you.
Using a variety of new technologies that speed up and simplify the real estate sales process, we’ve been helping buyers make successful “low-ball” offers for years. Here’s what to do.
First, do your research. Use the Internet and drive around to identify three homes that you’d like to buy. Of course, we’re partial to our own Web site, www.TheBestHomeSearchEver.com, but there are several sites that allow you to search listings for the entire Washington, D.C., metro area. I also recommend you watch our “Successful Low-ball Offer” video at www.DROdio.com/lowball.
Once you’ve picked out three homes you like, we call each listing agent to say that we have an interested buyer planning to make his or her first offer based on whichever seller is most flexible on price. The listing agent’s response is usually: “Make me an offer.”
Before making the first offer, we figure out what the seller paid for the property, how many days it’s been on the market, how much it’s dropped from the original price and other factors that affect the seller’s willingness to negotiate. A vacant home is always best for negotiating low-ball sales.
Once we’ve determined which seller is likely to be most flexible, we make a low-ball offer. But we make sure to put an expiration date on the offer. In your low-ball offer, you should focus on price; don’t make other demands, like repairs.
Typically, the seller will respond with a counteroffer. If you don’t like it, move on to the next property. Meanwhile, we go back to the first seller and see if he or she will provide a better counteroffer. We keep doing this until you have three counteroffers in front of you. You can’t make more than one offer at a time, but you can consider as many counteroffers at the same time as you like.
The key to this type of negotiation is to focus on price, be flexible and keep emotions out of the deal. There’s nothing shameful about making a low-ball offer – it’s business.
Daniel R. Odio is the owner and principal broker of DROdio Real Estate Inc. (www.DROdio.com) and is licensed in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Nevada. DROdio Real Estate has been featured in many publications for its use of technology and runs the popular home search site www.TheBestHomeSearchEver.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.