Selling a Home could be a tiring process for you. There could be a variety of reasons due to which you would be selling the house. Nobody would like to sell a beautiful house until there is a solid reason behind it. It could worry you in many ways. You might think that nobody would buy your house. The most amazing part before closing the deal for your house is the process of negotiation. However, when you are just there and you get many potential buyers, which one you are going to choose.
Below are some tips to assist you in the process of negotiation. However, before moving on it is important for you to realize that selling your house is a very important decision. It is important not only for you but for the potential buyer as well. You have to consider the buyer perspective as well. Putting yourself in the shoes of your potential buyer can go a long way at times. Finding a great client is rare; however, it is very much possible if you are following the right means.
1. Most Important Decision
Selling the house is the most important decision of your life. What you do with the money is another story. You have to pay the real estate commission and there would be a certain set price. Your eyes would be at the highest possible price in the market. You would aim for the best price.
Sometimes the price offered by the buyer for your house is too low than what you had been expecting and thus, it could be a little disappointing. However, if you keep the negotiation tips in mind it would be a little easy to make the entire process smooth.
Your life is full of opportunities but you have to grab the right one at the right time. It goes true for selling the house as well. Some of the potential buyers would be like a great opportunity for you. However, you have to make sure that you are not missing this great opportunity.
2. Setting a Good Price
You have to set a good price for your house. For setting a good price do a little market survey. Find out what price is going in the market. Based on the survey you can set the price of your house. If the price offered by the buyer is lower than what you expect, you can always reject the offer. You don’t need to force yourself to accept the very first bid placed by the potential buyer.
Some of the sellers are afraid of losing potential clients and thus, they don’t mind accepting whatever price is thrown at them. If you are in a hurry, you can sell the house at whatever bid is offered by a potential client but it would depend on your situation and the relevant circumstances.
Some sellers are very flexible and a buyer can take advantage of this flexibility, which is why it is important for the seller to be smart. If you are selling your house at a certain price, make sure you have the negotiation skills to get the top market rate especially if you are in a good neighborhood. It is interesting to note that when someone really likes your house and wants to purchase it, they would come in again for getting it at your set price.
There is no harm in trying to negotiate to get the best possible deal.
Sometimes you would be able to get the best deal in the market. Other times, there is a possibility that you might simply lose potential buyers.
After setting a good price, stick to it and take relevant measures to negotiate with the potential buyer. Remember it is important to be confident as you are selling something precious. A good buyer would understand the worth of your house and would be willing to pay the relevant price.
3. Setting Deadline Vs Waiting
When you are putting your house on sale, there are two options.
- If you want to sell the house quickly, you can set the deadline with the help of your agent. He/she would be able to help you to make the entire process fast and smooth. It would be incredible if you get an amazing offer on setting the deadline.
- If you are not in a rush to sell the house, it would be a good idea to wait and see what offers you get in the coming months.
The location of the house and the neighborhood matters a lot with regards to what offers you get. If you are in a popular neighborhood or if the location of the house is ideal, you would be able to sell the house within a few weeks’ time. However, if the location or the neighborhood is shabby it might take a while to set things along. Based on the location and neighborhood, you would be able to get a good price. If you are lucky, you are likely to get a higher price than usual.
4. Things to Keep in Mind
When the process of negotiation begins, there are various things that are important to keep in mind such as:
- You must be aware of whether your buyers are first time home buyers or not.
- You have to consider factors like contingencies, closing assistance, financing of the buyers, and other such things.
- The most important thing is the price. You would be looking for the best price for your house.
- There is a possibility that a buyer would like to move in as soon as possible which means that there would be no home for you if you have not done the specific arrangements for your stay. Make sure you take into account each and every factor before selling the house. The time frame that is ideal for the buyer should fall in your time frame as well.
- If there is a requirement of the cash, you have to make sure whether the buyer would be able to pay the relevant cash or not. In some cases, the buyer might not be able to put a certain down payment and hence, you have to put the house back on the sale on the market.
- Keep a close eye on the contingencies. The buyers sometimes get an upper edge because of the contingency. During the process of selling the house, if something gets wrong, the buyer can simply back out from the deal. You have to be aware of everything mentioned in the contingencies.
Reject the offers in some cases…
- In some cases, it is okay to reject the offer of the potential buyer especially if you don’t like it at all. Saying no is not a big deal but how you say it matters. Make sure you are not making the potential buyer with your attitude as you can always ask them to resubmit the offer. This way you would be able to keep the buyers in the loop.
- If you are rejecting the offer, this would let the buyer know that your property is worth the price you are putting.
There is an old saying all that glitters is not gold, it would apply here as well since many offers might seem lucrative. However, in reality, these offers would not be so ideal, which is why it is very important to dig deeper into the offers that you are getting and consider each and every factor in great detail.
5. Put Up a Counteroffer
You have the option of providing a counteroffer to the buyer. The buyer would accept or reject the offer as per their requirement. However, it is not a bad idea to always ask for a counteroffer especially if you are living in a neighborhood that is quite popular and you are aware of the fact that you would be able to sell your house at a higher price than what the buyer is offering you at the moment.
However, you can be flexible with the buyer keeping in view the various points. Depending on what kind of offer the buyer is giving, what the overall situation is, it is important to decide according to the situation.
Remember, a little empathy cannot harm you. You can put yourself in the shoes of the buyer provided that it is a win-win situation for both of you. You have to consider each and everything from the buyer’s perspective as well. After all, you are handing over your most precious house to the buyer.
6. Bidding War
It would be a good idea to keep a bidding war among the potential buyers of the house. This way you would be able to get a relatively higher price on the house. For example, you can keep an open house and let the potential buyers attend it. They would feel a rush of competition and thus would be compelled to place a higher bidding offer. You would also get a variety of options and would be able to choose the most suitable buyer from the group of potential buyers. If you get lucky and get multiple offers for the house, go for the best one in order to get the highest price for your house.
7. Closing Cost
You can offer to pay the closing cost to the buyers. However, like many other sellers, you might not be interested in paying the closing cost. But, it can speed up the selling process. When you offer to pay the closing cost, you can adjust the price in the selling price so that it doesn’t affect you much. However, you have to make sure that the lender of the buyer is approving the cost.
8. Home Showing
In order to sell your house at a good price, it is important that you focus on home staging and decoration. Your house is a reflection of who you are, which is why it is important that you keep it in good condition. Before selling the house make sure it is neat and tidy so that you would be able to get a good price.
People are interested in buying a house that is neat and maintained. It is important to organize the house. Make sure you get rid of everything that is unwanted in the house. Make boxes and place everything in the storage. Keep the driveway clean and the outside of the house should be painted as well. When your house is great in appearance, you can expect a good price during the process of negotiation as you can tell the buyer how worthy your house is.
Final Words
It is not easy to sell a house especially if you have been living in it since your childhood. There would be many memories attached to it. Some good, some bad. However, when you have finally decided to move on in life and sell the house, it would be a good idea to learn the art of negotiation. It is not easy for everyone to negotiate and some people find it tough to do the closing.
However, following the relevant tips and ideas can be of great assistance in this regard. There are tons of information available online and some tips are discussed above as well. You can contact your friends and family members to get some tips on the negotiation especially those friends who had been successful in selling their house at a much higher price than what is available in the market. Start by setting a good market price and then go from there.
You can survey the market price and if you don’t like the first bid placed by your potential buyer, it would be okay to reject it. You can create a bidding war among potential buyers. They would feel a sense of competition and thus, you can get a relatively higher price than what you have been expecting especially if your house is in a famous neighborhood or at a good location.
