Can a Sales Price Be Countered ABOVE List Price?
Buyers in the Northern Virginia marketplace don't have it easy lately. There is not enough inventory in most price ranges to meet demand. So when they find a home they like, they need to move on it FAST! And they need to be reasonable when negotiating, particularly when it comes to closing cost help.
Closing cost assistance in such a market is not a foregone conclusion. If an offer of closing cost assistance has not expressly been made in the MLS, and the property is priced at or below current comparable sales, it is best to assume that the list price is the net sales price that sellers are expecting. If you want closing cost assistance, feel free to ask for it and offer list price. However, don't be surprised if a well priced property has sellers that turn around and increase the sales price by the amount of money you, the buyer, have requested in closing cost help.
Here's a real life example:
I have sellers who have a home priced just slightly below the current market value in the neighborhood at $299,000. The home is in great condition, but could likely sell for as much as $10,000 more. They simply wanted more visibility for their listing since traffic above the $300,000 price point in townhouses is slower than they'd like.
Buyers saw it and offered $297,500 and asked for $5,000 in closing cost help. That's $6,500 off the listing as advertised. Why? There was no closing cost assistance offered in the MLS. An astute buyer would realize that $299,000 was the seller's starting point for negotiations.
Imagine the buyers surprise when the counter came higher than list price, but closing cost was wrapped in? They couldn't believe it. They expected $299,000 with their closing costs and that was it. Their response to an offer than NETTED the sellers $299K, but increased the sales price was outrage. "You can't go above list price! Especially not when there are other offers."
The buyers in that example are going to learn the hard way that, yes, when a buyer needs closing cost assistance on a well priced property and there has been no public offer of closing cost assistance made,the sales price CAN be countered above list price. Yes a property will still have to appraise for whatever the sales price is, but if comps justify the increase to cover closing costs, buyers should be a bit more humble and realize they are getting a good deal.
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