Selling your home is one of the most important steps in your life. Here are 7 more essential tips you must know…..This guide is written with one goal in mind: to give you the tools you need to maximize your profits, maintain control, and reduce the stress that comes with the home selling process.
This is part 3 in a 3 part series by Pam Larkin. See part 1. See part 2
Tip # 15 The more prospects, the better.
By maximizing your home’s marketability, you’ll increase your chances of attracting more than one prospective buyer. Why is this better? Because several buyers compete with each other; a single buyer ends up competing with you.
Tip # 16 Don’t get emotional during the negotiations.
Let go of the emotion you’ve invested in your home and approach negotiations in a detached, businesslike manner, you’ll find the process to be a lot less painful. You will also have an advantage over the buyer who gets caught up in the emotion of the situation.
Tip # 17 Don’t take a low offer personally.
Don’t get angry or feel insulted; evaluate the offer objectively. Make sure it spells out the offering price, adequate earnest money, amount of down payment, mortgage amount, a closing date and any special requests. Now you have a point form which you can negotiate.
Tip # 18 A really low offer may mean the buyer’s not qualified.
If you feel the offer is inadequate, now would be a good time to make sure the buyer has been qualified to carry a mortgage of the size this deal would require (if you haven’t learned this already). Ask how they arrived at their figure, then suggest their agent use comparables to establish what homes are going for in your neighborhood.
Tip # 19 Don’t take a lowball offer seriously.
An unacceptably low offer should not be taken personally or seriously. Rather, it should be coutered, even with the slightest of reductions in your asking price. This lets a buyer know that their first offer isn’t seen as a very serious one.
Tip # 20 Make sure the contract is complete.
The best way to avoid problems is to make sure that all terms, costs and responsibilities are spelled out in the contract of sale. A contract should include the date it was made, the names of the parties involved in the transaction, the address of the property being sold, the purchase price, where deposit monies will be held, the date for loan approval, the date and place of closing, type of deed, any contingencies that remain to be settled, and whether there’s any personal property included (or not included) in the sale, among other things.
Tip # 21 Don’t deviate from the contract.
Resist the temptation to diverge from the contract. For example, if the buyer requests a move-in prior to closing, just say no. Now is not the time to take any chances of the deal falling through.
Please feel free to call me if you would like further explanation on any of these topics, or if you have any real estate questions at all. I simply see my mission as striving to be as helpful as I possibly can to area home owners.
Pam Larkin, First Weber Group Wausau-Rib Mountain