Home buyers & sellers, these two communities are the pillars of a successful housing & real estate market. There is a very thin line between the mindset of both parties. In a delicate process of home-buying, few bad moves & misunderstanding can trigger the cancellation of the deal. Often some home-buyers or sellers deliberately try to instigate the other one. The reason may be related to the interior of the house, may be due to increasing demand of the homes, multiple lucrative offer or home price drop.
Whether you are a buyer or seller, you should mind those factors which can turn off your prospecting buyer/seller totally. Let us recognize those mistakes & their remedies:
If you are a seller :
Hanging out with your buyer – Generally a buyer want to visit your property & check their requirements. If you accompany your buyer while he is stalking your home, he might feel very uncomfortable & couldn't take any decision about your home. As soon as the buyer sees you, he might not discuss his future plans of repairing /re-designing work in front of you. He will not express his thoughts about how your home might be identically matches with his vision. This can be harmful for your deal as well.
So, being a seller, do not get around with your buyer while he is visiting your house. Make sure to provide a breathing space to him so that he can walk around & visualize his preferences.
Keeping your house messy – Nothing is more annoying than a messy house to a buyer. So, if you are showing the filthy floors & untidy kitchen counters to him, the possibility for rejection will be quite high. Your home should be neat & clean while showing to the buyer. Make sure the home smells fresh & hygienic. Buyers do not like stinky odors, specially pet smells which can be distressful for some people. So, it should be taken care of that your home must feel like a newly decorated house with no traces of stanch, odor, & pets along with their items. It is applicable for you too as well if you are a regular smoker, consider smoking outside of the building as much as possible.
Obsolete /outdated furnitures & fixtures – New home-buyers might not like your custom furnitures & fixture, they might need all of the interior well furnished with latest style. It may be fixture, wallpapers, & custom ceiling which might not be up to the mark from the buyers point of view. So, you need to pay a certain amount towards those changes, you can add those costs along with the selling price.
Organizing personal items – When buyer will visit your home, try to clean out your personal things & keep them totally out of sight. Buyers don't like the situation where the HOUSE seems to look like you! They would rather want a “clean slate” image where they could imagine their future decorations.
Overpricing the home – In todays's housing market, buyers have the priority more than any seller. Buyers just won't even bother to look at the property if as a seller your price goes way over comparatively than other sellers. So, getting the buyers attention is mostly required. Quote a price after consulting with your real estate agent & ask buyer to commit a legal document. The sale price must be suitable to the buyers & need to match with the neighborhood sold out houses.
If you are a Buyer :
Making extremely low offer – There is no way a seller will accept a price which is far below than his expectation & less than the market value of the property. Giving such an absurd offer will not only make him annoyed, but he will not consider your counter offer either. This low balling plan might get very risky as you will loose the opportunity to grab a better home at a suitable price. So, it is your duty to make market research before offering a price quote. Gather enough data & ask your agent to compare the selling price of recently sold homes with the one you are intend to buy. Make calculations of any commission you will be giving & after getting the net value, render your offer to the seller.
Apply for mortgage loan – Many buyers apply for financing after making the offer to the seller. Getting approved for a mortgage is quite a long process & you just have to use your common sense to calculate the time for it before going for the deal. You should start working on getting your required loan for at least 6 months before offering the price quote. It will help you to get a fair idea about how much you can borrow for buying the home, & you can co-ordinate with your real estate agent accordingly. Do not make any sudden financial moves like buying a car or applying for a credit card or something..it will only elongate your mortgage approval time-frame.
Bad mouthing about the neighborhood – Bad mouthing to the seller about the neighborhood or the house is quite a unwise move. If you do this , it will not help you to get the lower price. Instead of appreciating, the seller might get irritated due to your harshness & will reconsider for not selling the property to you. A home holds a emotional bonding with the seller, so do not hurt his feelings which might provoke him to cancel the deal.
Make an offer which suits you & the seller, do not apply any wrong moves which might hamper your deal. Chalk out your financial plan such a way that it should help you out to achieve the goal.