It will be very difficult for a buyer, to get a fair price deal in a seller's market, just like The United States of America. Whatever you and your realtor’s negotiating style may be, it may not be enough here where inventory is low, and demand and prices are high.
But if you have the correct negotiation skill, it’ll be possible to get a good price in this competitive market. Having a good real estate agent is the most crucial part of your home buying process. You can also take help of the other home buyers too.
Here are some best price negotiating strategies advised by the professional realtors and homebuyers. You can use them in any type of market.
1. Get your pre-approval letter
A pre-approval letter is most important for a new buyer. It’ll help you to show how much you're approved to grab a loan. The amount must include the exact money you're offering for the house. Actually, you need to prove how much you can pay for the house. Your offer will be a key factor that the seller considers the most.
2. Find weakness of the seller
After searching various properties, when you’ll find a suitable one, you need to verify whether it’s worth or not. For this reason, you need to check the seller’s financial background. You need to find few facts about the seller, like - about their family circumstances like marriage, divorce, childbirth, graduation, illness, relocation, etc.
Basically, you need to find the reason behind the selling of the house. If there is any urgent requirement of money, the seller might agree to a good discount. It may seem that you’re taking advantage of the situation, but you must do whatever it takes to lower the amount. Of course, you don’t have to choose any illegal ways for that.
3. Find out drawbacks
If you can find some flaws in the house, like some costly repair work or unrepairable stuff, you can ask the seller to lower the price. You need to perform a third-party home inspection properly to find out the actual condition of the house. A home inspection is a strong and proven method to identify all the repair works and its costs. If you realise that the cost of repairing is too high, you can ask the seller to give you a handsome discount that can cover up the extra cost.
4. Lender follow-up with listing agent
Ask your lender to talk up with the listing agent. If you’ve two offers and in one of the offers the loan officer wants to review the file with the listing agent, it’s quite possible that the deal will be completed. It may be possible that the agent will share that information with the seller and help to get that offer accepted.
5. Offer your quote 12% below
This strategy may not work in a seller's market. Normally in a seller’s market, people (buyers) are constantly trying bid the best quote and want to defeat each other. But in a buyer's market, if you offer at least 12%, there is a high chance that you’ll get the attention. Normally, on an average 5% to 10% reduction is a common thing.
6. Never create hassle for the seller
People like to sell their homes to people they like. It’s not always about money, in several cases a buyer’s attitude also counts. Sellers sometimes want to pass the keys to buyers who they know personally, who’ve the same respect and care for the homes and, with whom sellers have the pleasant experience while executing the deal initially.
So, I hope these strategies will help you up while getting a new home. Be always steady as a new home buyer, and grab the deal.