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HELPING A SENIOR CITIZEN SELL THEIR HOME: Part 3- HOW TO HANDLE OFFERS

By Lee Alley

Services for Real Estate Pros with Pro Mobile Photo

August 13, 2012 01:03 PM

Helping a Senior Citizen Sell Their Home: Part 3- How to Handle Offers

First, Just What Is "An Offer?"

When your home goes under contract (i.e., an accepted offer), the buyer will likely have expectations about how or whether you continue to sollicit other buyers. It is critical that you scrutinize offers and the buyers who make them.

Are all the signatures there? Is the earnest money really attached as checked in the box? Are the forms complete? Once I received an offer from one our areas' star agents. All the papers were there, filled out fine, except there was not a single buyer signature. The buyer's star agent had signed 'on behalf of phone call with out of town buyer.' Hogwash.

If the buyer wants his offer contingent on selling his home back east, then why not check out his advertising to see if you think his home is priced to sell or not? Is it under maintained? If your buyer says his home is under contract already, then what contingencies are in that purchase agreement? Does it say he has to do some repairs before sale, to the satisfaction of his buyer or an inspector?

Negotiations

Buyers, nearly always, want to "like" the sellers. That is good. But it is so very easy for the back and forth on negotiating terms (cost, possession date, fixups required, whether to continue accepting other offers, etc.) for the buyer and/or seller to begin to demonize the other. This is the same buyer who couldn't stop staring at family photo's and checking which magazines were laying about, when first viewing the home. Buyers want to know their sellers, and they deep down want to like them, too. Buyers who like the seller likes the home more. This is an opportunity. It's up to the agents to help keep negotiations positive.

A note on handling low, or demanding offers. When a buyer offers to buy a home, no matter how low the price nor how demanding other terms are, the buyer is still saying "I like the home you selected to live in, and I would like to live in it, too." That is a compliment. The fact that you cannot accept the terms of offer need not be a negative emotional issue whatsoever. I advise sellers who want to reject an offer outright, to always respond with at least, "Thank you for your compliment to our home by wanting to live where we have lived. However, the terms that make sense to you are just not workable to us. But we truly appreciate your gesture to present your offer. Please let us know if you decide later to enhance the terms of offer."

Recording Terms and Conditions of Purchase

Nothing, not even the smallest detail should be left to old fashioned trust. In today's complex world there are innumerable external variables and third parties that can inadvertently throw a wrench where you never expected it. I advise clients, "If it's not precisely, unambiguously written and agreed to in the contract then it isn't true."

As an aside, if you are selling undeveloped land as part of this then here is a rule of thumb. Never leave even the slightes detail involving

Access
Water
Boundaries/fences

to a friendly handshake or an assumption of "surely he'll do (what I consider to be) the common sense thing. Those three things must be in place, resolved, settled, agreed on, completed, locked in well before closing date. No presumption the neighbor will agree to move the fence "just a couple feet" over to the real property boundary. Or that the neighbor will follow through on a discussion about sharing a well. Or allowing you to use his driveway as part of the access to your lot. Or continue to plow snow in your driveway when he does his own.