Archive for the 'Making an Offer' Category

Making an Offer on a Home

You’ve found the place you want to buy.  Now you want to make an offer. What’s involved in this part of the home buying process?

All you have to do is google “making an offer on a home” and you’ll get a ton of very useful information on what the steps are and what you should be thinking about.  And a couple of good sources for this type of information are: realtor.com/Basics/Buy/Choose Offer/Make Offer.asp and http://mortgage-x.com/library/offer.htm.

At these kinds of sites, you’ll learn about :

–what goes into an offer

–how much money accompanies the offer

–terms (price, closing date, money due at purchase and sale) that go into the offer and that they are all negotiable

–contingencies (financing, inspection) that the sale is subject to

–counteroffers

And more. The mechanics essentially.

If you’re working with a buyer’s agent–and you should be–he/she can potentially provide you information about the mechanics and more.  The seller’s background (is there a divorce that’s prompting the sale?), whether there is a mortgage and for how much, whether it’s an estate sale and who the trustees are and how many–all of these can be important factors to consider when you decide on what to offer.

What you won’t find at these sites, however, is how you, as an individual or couple, deal with the negotiating process and with the prospect of making a very large investment of money.

Home Buying Negotiations

I have seen negotiating an offer go wildly off kilter because a buyer, in pursuit of ” a deal”, is more interested in besting the seller than acquiring the property at the right price.  As a buyer’s agent in this instance, I provided comparable sales data, as much information about the seller as was available, and years of negotiating experience. But, the buyer was more concerned with negotiating the deal as his father would have.  True story.  And it wasn’t a pretty picture.  Needless to say, the offer didn’t fly.  We never came to terms with the seller because the buyer really had another agenda.

I’ve seen both sellers and buyers imagine the personalities of the other based on the offer, counteroffer, etc.  It’s very hard not to.  Because you don’t really know the other party in the negotiation, it’s common to project attributes and attitudes–he or she is insulting with a low-ball offer, they’re trying to bottom-feed, they’re cheap or offensive in some other way.  I’ve heard it all.  This is a process where there are many unknowns and elements that require trust on many levels.  You have to trust that your agent conveys your intentions accurately and honestly through another agent whom you may or may not know to a seller you don’t know either.  It’s understandable to try and fill in the unknowns and control the process to some extent. Beware, however, that your content, your imagination, your projections don’t end up preventing reasonable movement to a satisfactory conclusion–an accepted offer that makes sense in both market and personal terms. Don’t get in your own way!

Things can get even more complicated when couples are not on the same page.  There can be, and often are, different attitudes about money, about “home”, about winning and deal-making. I’m not suggesting you go into therapy to uncover your deep-seated feelings about spending money and buying a house.  But, what I am pointing out is that you, like everyone, have a history that includes messages about money.  Without your really knowing it, your financial behaviors are influenced  by these messages and can either enable or impede your moving toward your goal–buying a house.

Buyer’s Agent

A buyer’s agent’s only fiduciary obligation is to you and, in a negotiating scenario, their job is to help you get your home at the lowest possible price. In an ideal world, all the participants in the buying process are just as clear about the process and their roles in it. Contact RG-Homes about buying your next Boston Metrowest home.