I came across this great article on Trulia and wanted to
share it with you. It contains great advice for both buyers and sellers.
"In today’s' market every savvy seller wants to know
what turns buyers off, so they can get their homes sold as quickly as possible,
for as much as possible. But buyers, take note - there is a minefield of seller
turn-offs you can trigger that hold the potential to keep you from getting the
home you want at the best price and terms, or to unnecessarily complicate
dealings with your home's seller.
Lest you think all of today's sellers are under the gun and
will just put up with whatever behavior buyers dish out, be aware that there
are still many multiple offer situations in which buyers have to compete with
each other to get a home - buyers who trigger these turnoffs tend to lose in
those scenarios. Also, avoiding these
seller turn-offs can create a transactional environment of cooperation and
avoid things turning adversarial. That, in turn, can empower you to score a
better price, get extra items you want thrown into the deal, and even negotiate
more flexibility around your escrow and move-in timelines - all perks that can
make your life easier and your budget go further.
For sellers, these turn-offs pose the potential of irritating
you out of an otherwise good deal - maybe even the only deal you have!
Here's a few of the most common buyer perpetuated seller
turnoffs, with tips for sellers on how to keep an emotional (and economic) even
keel, even if your home's buyer makes some of these waves:
1. Trash-talking. Trash-talkers are the
home buyers who think they're going to negotiate the list price down by
slamming the house, telling the sellers how little it is really worth, how the
house across the street sold for nothing, why the school on the corner should
make them desperate to give the place away, etc. This strategy never works; in fact, when you
attack a seller and their home, you only cause them to be defensive, and think
up all the reasons that (a) their home is not what you say it is, and (b) they
shouldn't sell their home to you! Sometimes this happens with buyers
who actually love a house and just walk around it fantasizing about all the
ways they would customize it to their tasters while a seller is there.
Sellers:
avoid being at home while your home is being shown. Buyers:
Save your commentary for your agent; if you do encounter the seller in
person keep your conversation respectful and avoid the critiquing the house or
the list price.
2. Being unqualified for mortgage financing. When
a seller signs a buyer’s offer, most often the seller agrees to effectively
pull the home off the market, forgoing other buyers who might be
interested. As such, the only thing
worse than getting no offers on your home is getting an offer, getting into
contract, then having the whole thing fall apart when the buyer’s loan falls
through – especially if that could have been predicted up front.
Sellers: Work with your
agent to vet your home’s buyer’s qualifications, including their loan approval,
down payment and earnest money deposit – before you sign a contract. It’s not
overkill for your agent to call the buyer’s mortgage pro before you sign the
contract and get a level of comfort for how robust their qualifications are. Buyers:
Get pre-approved. Seriously. And make sure that you don’t buy a car, quit
your job, deposit lottery winnings or do any other financial twitchery between
the time you get loan approval and the time you close escrow on your home.
3. Making unjustified lowball offers. No one likes to feel like they are being taken
advantage of. And sellers generally know
the ballpark amount that their home is worth, as well as what they need to sell
if for to get their mortgage paid off.
Yes – the price you pay for a home should be driven by its fair market
value, rather than the seller’s financial needs, and deals are more available
in a market like the current one, in which supply so vastly outpaces
demand. But just throwing uber-lowball
offers out at sellers hoping one will hit the spot is not generally a
successful strategy, especially if you really, really want a given property.
Sellers: Don’t get overly emotional about receiving a
lowball offer; counter at the price you and your agent decide makes senses
based on the total circumstances, including your motivation level, recent comps
and the interest/activity level your listing is receiving. Buyers:
Work through the similar nearby
homes that have recently sold before you make an offer to factor the home’s
fair market value into your offer price – also factor in how much you want the
place, too. Don’t be amazed if you make
an offer below asking, and don’t get a response.
4. Renegotiating mid-stream. Sellers plan their finances, moves and – to
some extent – their lives around the purchase price a buyer agrees to pay for
their home. If you get into contract to
buy a home, find out during inspections that costly repairs need to be made, and
then propose a lower sale price, repair credit or even actual repairs to the
seller, that’s sensible and fair. But if you were aware that the property
needed a lot of work before you made an offer on it, then you come back asking
for beaucoup bucks’ worth of credit or price reductions midstream, expect the
seller to cry foul. And holding the
seller up two weeks into the transaction because you caught a case of buyer’s
remorse? Not cool, and not likely to foster the spirit of cooperation you may
need to get your deal closed.
Sellers:
Avoid mid-stream price renegotiations by having a full set of inspection reports
and repair bids at hand when you list your home. Buyers: Try to avoid renegotiating the entire
deal unless you get some major surprises at your inspections or inflating small
repairs to justify a major price cut.
5. Misleading or setting the seller up. Remember when you were turned off by being
misled by listing photos or very fluffy property descriptions. The same goes
for sellers. Offering way over asking with the plan to hammer the seller for a
reduction when the house doesn’t appraise at the purchase price? Lame. Making
as-is offer planning the whole time to come back and ask for every penny ante
repair called out by the inspectors? Lame squared.
Sellers:
If you get multiple offers and are tempted to take a sky-high one or one
that claims to be all in cash, consider requesting proof that the buyer has
sufficient funds to make up the difference between what you think the home will
appraise for and the actual sale price, and statements showing the cash truly
exists. Buyers: Don’t be lame. I’m not
saying you have to tell the seller exactly what your top dollar is, but making
offers with terms designed to intentionally mislead is really, really bad form
– and can result in losing the home entirely if and when your bluff gets
called.”
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