Selling Your Home - Keep the Deal on the Table
Posted by Greg Eckler on Monday, April 25th, 2011 at 11:40am.
You've decided to sell your home. It's been de-cluttered, staged, priced according to the current market, and now all you need is a buyer.
Your agent calls you up with the first offer. "Brace yourself," he says, "It's not as high as we would have liked..."
At 30% below the asking price, it's not even in the ballpark, and frankly you're pissed. The house has never looked better, it's priced smartly, you're insulted by the nerve of this lowball offer. So, how do you handle it? Your first reaction is to instruct your agent to tell this person you're not interested, and not to come back until they have something more realistic.
Even though this is your first offer, what if it's your last? What if this person is a serious buyer, but just testing the waters to see how low you will go?
It's up to your agent to act as negotiator, treat every offer seriously, and do everything he can to keep the deal on the table. Even a ridiculous offer should be countered. Whether it's only a 1% decrease, the bid should be acknowledged.
By keeping the deal alive, at least you have a better chance of coming to an agreement, closing a deal and moving on.
For more information about dealing with lowball offers, read: Denver Home Sellers: Every Offer is a Good Offer.
4 Responses to "Selling Your Home - Keep the Deal on the Table"
Posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2011 at 11:51pm.
Posted on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 at 6:57am.
In life, you get what you negotiated and you don't get what you don't ask for. So we put the offer in. I even presented it in person. The sellers countered at full price. My buyers really liked the home, liked that it was close to family, and didn't want to mess around with negotiating hijinx anymore. They countered with full price plus some closing cost concessions. Offer accepted and closing was took place shortly thereafter.
Sometimes a buyer has to take a shot. Don't get weird when they do.
Posted on Friday, August 23rd, 2013 at 9:19am.
Posted on Monday, August 8th, 2011 at 8:26am.