I spent several hours negotiating on behalf of one of my sellers the other night. They own a gorgeous home in a great neighborhood in one of Pittsburgh’s top school districts.
An offer came in $20,000 lower than the list price. In this market, houses sell quickly and pretty much for full asking price or close to it. Many have bidding wars and even sell for more. Under normal circumstances most sellers would be unhappy with an offer that low.
The buyer’s agent however shared with me that his buyers really liked the house and they would be interested in waiving the inspection contingencies in a good faith effort to help bridge the gap.
What most buyers and sellers fail to realize is that money is almost never the deciding factor when buying or selling a home. In this scenario above, the seller countered by asking the buyer to come up $5,000. The buyer agreed and the house is now Under Contract.
Why would the seller do this? Well, there is now no chance of the buyer walking away from the home after the home inspection. The seller has already purchased their new home and been living in it for 2 months. They have made two mortgage payments for a month now and will only have one more month of that before selling their home and having a large chunk of cash now at their disposal. What would that peace of mind be worth to you?
I have had other sellers who were blessed to have multiple offers on their house. In every single case, the offer selected was NOT the highest offer. That may sound crazy but it is almost never about just the money. There are always compensating factors that can make a buyer’s offer more appealing to the seller.
If you are buying a home soon and would like to know how to make your offer more exciting, give me a call and let’s talk strategy. Every home is different because every seller has different needs. My job is to have those conversations and find out the details so that an offer can be structured to meet the seller’s needs.
I help you as the buyer hunt and hunt until you find the perfect home. I then kill it and drag it home. Let’s go hunting!