06 Apr Reacting to Offers in Real Estate – Have a Plan
Reacting to Offers in Real Estate.
Plan Ahead so You Can React Quickly to Offers
Once you have attracted potential buyers into your home with curb appeal, and impressed them with cleanliness and absence of clutter, the next step in obtaining the best possible price for your home is to develop a plan so that you can react to offers quickly.
Your plan should cover these key elements:
- reacting to offers that are below the asking price;
- coping with requests for occupancy.
Reacting to price in offers
You and your sales representative will have agreed on an asking price based on your home’s location, appearance, upgrades, condition, supply of comparable homes, recent sale prices, and market conditions — including demand and mortgage rates.
Periodic review of the active properties and recently sold homes in your neighborhood will help you to consider offers objectively. Do not take a low offer personally; consider it a starting point to be countered with help from your sales representative.
Anyone setting out to purchase a home should never say, “This is my final offer,” in an attempt to intimidate. If the vendor doesn’t accept the offer your finality will preclude a counter offer, and you may lose the house over a comparatively small amount of money.
When considering offers you should take into account prospects’ reactions to your home, and any changes in market conditions since the home was listed.
This is the time an experienced sales representative can counsel you, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of the elements of each offer to help you reach a sound decision.
Flexible occupancy
The second element of your plan should cover how you will respond to requested occupancy dates, from very short, through ideal, to longer than you might wish.
Many people who seek a pre-owned home do so because they wish to avoid the peculiarities of purchasing a new home, a location that isn’t bad but not ideal, orientation to the sun that lacks appeal, an uninspiring streetscape, immature or non-existent landscaping, and an uncertain or inconvenient completion date.
If such a prospect makes a very attractive offer for your home, but the requested occupancy is only two weeks away, how will you react? You should know in advance.
It could be well worth your while to make arrangements, just in case they are needed, to store your furniture, to stay at a cottage or with family or friends, or to obtain rental accommodations until your next home is available and to know the estimated cost of these arrangements.
As experienced real estate agents in the greater Ottawa area we can assist you to make a plan that will help you avoid stress and greatly increase your chances of success in selling your home. Contact us with any questions about the selling process.