For Sellers of Palos Verdes Homes, here are some tips to help you gauge offers 6 Tips for Choosing the Best Offer for Your Home
Buyers of Palos Verdes homes are smart, smart shoppers. Have a plan for reviewing purchase offers so you don’t let the best slip through your fingers. 
Selling your home will go a lot smoother if you think of it as a business transaction and don't let emotions get in the way. Owners of Palos Verdes homes have worked hard to get homes ready for sale and to price it properly; and I’m sure you’re not an exception to this! With any luck, offers will come quickly. You’ll need to review each carefully to determine its strengths and drawbacks and pick one to accept. Here’s a plan for evaluating offers on Palos Verdes homes. Ask lots of questions when evaluating offers on Palos Verdes homes
1. Understand the process All offers are negotiable, as your agent will tell you. When you receive an offer, you can accept it, reject it, or respond by asking that terms be modified, which is called making a counteroffer. Before even listing Palos Verdes homes, I always provide my clients a copy of the California Association of Realtors “Residential Purchase Agreement and Joint Escrow Instructions” as well as copies of all the mandated disclosure forms required in the State of California. Make sure to ask your Realtor for all the documents before you list; read them – thoroughly. Get questions answered and get informed up front so you are prepared for when the offers come.
2. Set baselines Decide in advance what terms are most important to you. For instance, if price is most important, you may need to be flexible on your closing date. Or if you want certainty that the transaction won’t fall apart because the buyer can’t get a mortgage, require a prequalified or cash buyer. Milton Friedman once said “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” so it’s exceedingly difficult to get 100% of everything you want. Frankly any agent selling Palos Verdes homes that says otherwise is lying, telling you what you want to hear just to get you to sign the listing. Prioritize what’s most important to you. Start thinking of the answers to questions, like “If I can get more of ________, I could give on ________”. Negotiating from a position of strength means, in part, hiring that agent that can act as your buffer to maximize the “more of” and minimize the “give ons”. There are specific strategies to do just that when selling my clients Palos Verdes homes.
3. Create an offer review process If you think your home will receive multiple offers, work with your agent to establish a time frame during which buyers must submit offers. That gives your agent time to market your home to as many potential buyers as possible, and you time to review all the offers you receive. In today’s market, some owners of Palos Verdes homes purposefully underprice their home in order to create that super heated competitive market that bids their home up in price during the offer process. This process can be inherently confusing and hectic; planning for it with rules in place will help manage your stress and get you the best outcome. What rules best maximize results? That’s something we can talk about.
4. Don’t take offers personally Many of my clients Palos Verdes homes and homes around the South Bay are living works of art. My clients have poured their souls into their homes. Selling your home can be emotional. But it’s simply a business transaction, and you should treat it that way. If your agent tells you a buyer complained that your kitchen is horribly outdated, justifying a lowball offer, don’t be offended. Consider it a sign the buyer is interested and understand that those comments are a negotiating tactic. Negotiate in kind.
5. Review every term Carefully evaluate all the terms of each offer. Price is important, but so are other terms. Is the buyer asking for property or fixtures—such as appliances, furniture, or window treatments—to be included in the sale that you plan to take with you? Is the amount of earnest money the buyer proposes to deposit toward the down payment sufficient? The lower the earnest money, the less painful it will be for the buyer to forfeit those funds by walking away from the purchase if problems arise. Have the buyers attached a prequalification or pre-approval letter, which means they’ve already been approved for financing? Or does the offer include a financing or other contingency? If so, the buyers can walk away from the deal if they can’t get a mortgage, and they’ll take their earnest money back, too. Are you comfortable with that uncertainty? Is the buyer asking you to make concessions, like covering some closing costs? Are you willing, and can you afford to do that? Does the buyer’s proposed closing date mesh with your timeline? With each factor, ask yourself: Is this a deal breaker, or can I compromise to achieve my ultimate goal of closing the sale?
6. Be creative Buyers of Palos Verdes homes are very savvy and well informed about your home’s competition and past sales that are competitive to your home. If you’ve received an unacceptable offer through your agent, ask questions to determine what’s most important to the buyer and see if you can meet that need. You may learn the buyer has to move quickly. That may allow you to stand firm on price but offer to close quickly. The key to successfully negotiating the sale is to remain flexible. +George Fotion
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