Ahh, the excitement and joy of the moment when a home buyer knows, "This is it - the house we want to buy!"
You found a great lender and got pre-qualified for your loan, you found a great real estate agent and looked at houses until, finally, this moment arrived.
The very first annoying thing that can happen is something you do to yourselves: Writing a lousy offer.
You know you've seen enough houses to be quite educated on what's available, and what they're going for. But you've heard a million times that it's a 'buyer's market', and you want a DEAL!
Now, I certainly wouldn't want any of my clients to overpay for a house. That's why I do a market analysis, so you know what a fair offer price is. If you take a look at those numbers, and want to offer much less than what other homes are going for, there is a good chance your offer will be countered. Or, if other offers are received you may lose out to someone else.
Losing out when you've found the one you really want is TOTALLY annoying! For one thing, I can guarantee you that every other house you see will be measured against the one that got away, and many will be found lacking. The mistake of getting overly greedy can add weeks to your home search.
When you write an offer, make it as appealing as you can. If you go lower on the price, find another way to add appeal. For example, maybe you want to close asap but the seller wants to close in 8 weeks. Agree to that 8 weeks if you hope to get the seller to come down in price.
And don't forget - if you're asking the seller to pay your closing costs, that is figured into their bottom line when they're deciding whether or not to accept your offer. In other words, if you ask the seller to pay $5,000 of your closing costs, and offer $7,000 less than asking price, you're really offering $12,000 less than asking price.
'Buyer's market' does not mean you've got your hands wrapped around the seller's neck and can force him to do anything you want. Not even if they're in foreclosure. Everyone looks at the bottom line.
There's a few more annoying things that can happen during the offer and counter offer stage, but I think I've gone on long enough for today. So I'm going to break this up into multiple posts.
Read the other posts by clicking on their names, below.
3. Offer, Counteroffer Click here to read Part 1. Click here to read Part 2.
5. Appraisal
6. Closing
7. Moving
8. The Special Fun of ‘Distressed Sales’
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Read more about life in Arvada, Colorado. And here's a little intro to Olde Town Arvada.
Gardeners might enjoy my posts about gardening in Denver to Boulder’s front range.
I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the ‘flavor’ of our community, in case they’re new or moving to the Denver area.
I am a residential real estate agent, happily helping folks buy a house or sell a house in the beautiful and friendly suburbs northwest of Denver.
Copyright © 2010 Joetta Fort, The DiGiorgio Group
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