When The Buyer Wants The Seller To Make Repairs
Mr./Ms. Buyer, until you have a physical inspection, we will not know how much these items will cost, and we could find additional repairs we may want to negotiate. Consequently, you have three choices:
You can offer the seller less money now to compensate for these items.
You can ask the seller now for a credit to repair these items using your own contractor.
Or, I usually advise clients to wait for the physical inspection and negotiate all repair items at one time.
How would you like me to negotiate this offer on your behalf?
Source: Ignite
When The Buyer Wants To Make A Low Offer
Mr./Ms. Buyer, there are three ways to negotiate a transaction.
You can make a low offer and run the risk of the seller rejecting it or countering back at full price to compensate.
You can make an offer closer to the asking price and be less flexible if there is a counteroffer.
If you really want this home and are concerned that another buyer may purchase it, you can make a full-price offer and give the seller what they want.
It’s your choice. How would you like me to negotiate this offer?
Source: Ignite
Buyer Wants To Re-Counter
When your buyer’s offer is countered and your buyer wants to re-counter, it is important that they have the proper perspective.
Mr./Ms. Buyer, by countering the seller has essentially just sold you the home for $200.000. If we counter at $195,000, it allows the seller to walk away from you or accept another offer in the interim. It is the risk of selling away your dream home for only $5,000. Are you OK with that risk?
Source: Ignite
Present A Low Offer To Your Seller
Never criticize or show a negative attitude about a low offer. Present all points of agreement first before discussing pricing or other disagreements.
Now, that’s lower than our asking price, but it is an offer so we need to decide what you would like to do.
Source: Ignite
Recommend That Your Client Accept The Offer
I will urge you to consider this offer very carefully and consider the value of meeting your moving goals; in the long run, meeting your overall goal of selling your home is the more critical need, correct?
Your property has been on the market now for ___ days, and the average time on market for this area is ___ days.
Buyers are going to look at this same data, they’re going to see that your neighbor’s house sold for only $_____, and the house around the corner sold for $_____. They’re going to want to pay fair market value compared to these other sales.
If you accept this offer, the probability of closing and meeting your goal is 100 percent. You want to meet your goal, right?
Source: Ignite
Recommend That Your Client Make A Counteroffer
We look at any offer as a positive thing, initially. We always recommend a counteroffer instead of rejecting an offer. It may be that we can negotiate this up to where we need it to be. Let’s put together a solid counteroffer. We need to get it back to them quickly to keep things rolling and see if we can make this offer work.
I think the thing to focus on here is the price you want to get for your house. Putting this offer aside, if you could get this home sold and closed in thirty days, what would you feel comfortable selling it for today? Let’s put together a counteroffer that would put us in the range where you feel comfortable.
Remember, not all offers are going to work, but it is a good sign that we’re getting an offer. You’ve made this person’s list as a house that they thought was one of the best homes for the money. I’ll call the other agent, and ask them how they came up with that price.
Source: Ignite
Presenting The Counteroffer To The Buyer Agent
Good morning/afternoon, _______ (buyer agent). This is _______ with Keller Williams Realty. Thank you for your offer—we appreciate it. It was quite a bit lower than what the seller had hoped.
Pause and see if you can get them to agree with you.
The sellers have come back with a reasonable counteroffer that should work. The seller is countering back for $ ______. The rest of the terms in your offer are fine except for__________. This is something that will work for everybody — your buyer is getting a home within market, the seller is selling at a reasonable price, and we can all move forward to get this closed, wouldn’t you agree?
Source: Ignite
Handle Your Buyer's Request For Inclusion Of Seller's Personal Items
I’d be more than happy to write that into the contract for you. I feel when you start involving people’s personal property it becomes more emotional. When you’re asking for their antiques and their furniture, it’s different than asking for their refrigerator or their washer and dryer. I don’t like to get involved in personal property. If those are items that you want, let me call the other agent and see if the sellers are even willing to part with the items before we actually put it in the contract. If the other agent says, “They might consider including the items for the right price,” then we can throw it in there. How do you feel about that?
Source: Ignite
Clarify The Inspection Report For The Buyer
I understand you are a little concerned about the inspection report. I recommend that we negotiate for a dollar amount so we can be in control of who addresses these issues. We need to focus on the big items — heating, air-conditioning, and the roof—discover what amount of money we’ll need to accomplish these repairs, and counter that amount back to the seller. If there are really big issues, it may be that we do need to walk away, but you shouldn’t be alarmed just because the list is long. The seller is required by the Real Estate Commission to point out all items. But we’ll have to determine whether the items will affect the house long-term for you.
Source: Ignite
When Your Buyer Wants The Seller To Make Nonessential Repairs
I understand this is important to you. In my experience, repairing this item typically costs about $700. While that’s not inconsequential, is it worth losing this house? All things being equal, if the seller had a competitive offer for exactly $700 more and gave you the chance to match that offer in order to keep the house, wouldn’t you want to match that offer?
Source: Ignite
Recommend That Your Seller Counter A Low Offer
I pulled up the information on what has sold in your price range since I put your house on the market. Ten (insert correct number for your scenario) houses have sold since then. Obviously, your house was not what these people were looking for; we didn’t create enough value for your property compared to what they bought. But we have an offer on the table now. It may not be exactly what you hoped for starting out, but let me go over the information with you. There are offers that will come in low. Often, the buyers are making an offer based on the advice of a friend or relative. We’re not going to turn them away because they’ve made this low offer. We know that they really like your house or they wouldn’t have made it. We have the opportunity to sell your house if we can negotiate to the price that you need. We’re going to make a counteroffer back to them, in writing—one that will reflect the price that you would like. We’ve already seen the price that they would like to pay. I recommend that we counteroffer and try to get them up to the price that you would like. What’s the bottom-line price you would consider? Then let’s leave some negotiating room above your number. Most counters go back and forth 2–4 times.
Source: Ignite
Prepare Your Seller To Negotiate High-Cost Repairs
We’ve received a repair request. The buyers have had a structural engineer take a look at the house, and the engineer is recommending that eight piers be put underneath the home. What I know from my experience is that piers cost approximately $XXX apiece. I can recommend to you some people who can give you bids within the next several days, then we can get back to the buyer within their option period to let them know whether you think this is something you can take care of. And then we can get this house sold. We don’t have to listen to the structural engineer, but the fact that we have a structural engineer report means that it has to go with the seller’s disclosure. If you decide not to put in any piers, perhaps you’ll want to get your own structural engineer out there and get his opinion. Then if we can compromise with the two structural engineers’ recommendations, we can call the buyer back and try to negotiate this— maybe you pay half and they pay half. Somehow, try to work this out with the buyer. If this contract does terminate, then you must amend your seller’s disclosure because now you have a report in hand stating that you are aware of foundation issues. This will have to go to any potential buyers from here on out.
Source: Ignite
Counsel Your Seller When The Buyer Requests Personal Items
You know, the buyer in this offer is asking that you leave that stove that you’re kind of attached to, and that light fixture in the dining area. I know those are items you’d like to take with you when you leave. Are you willing to replace that light fixture in the dining room? We could put something else up there that is a comparable light fixture, or give the buyer a credit back for that. Let me go back to them and tell them you really want to keep those pieces of personal property, and see if we might keep this deal together that way.
Source: Ignite