Attention Savannah Home Buyers -- Overwhelming the Seller

  When making an offer on a home, many times the buyers simply overload the seller with all that they ask for, some of which is not that important when it can cause the seller to become defensive and reactive.

An important thing to remember when negotiating is go for what is important to you and makes common sense to the seller.

When the seller sees the price reduced by 8% and then has to pay closing costs, plus leave the washer and dryer, cut the yard, paint the garage, replace light bulbs, wait eight weeks to closing, fix a shingle…well you get the point.

The cleaner and simpler the offer, the better chance a buyer has of getting a deal on what’s most important to the buyer. But first a buyer must decide what is important and worth taking a stand on.

Is it price? If it is, then go mainly for a price reduction and try to remove as much clutter in the special stipulations as possible. This makes it easy for the seller to make a decision to lower the price. While many items that are asked for by the buyer may not add up to much money, just the sight of so many stipulations has a psychological effect on the seller’s willingness to negotiate.

If conserving cash is more important, then ask for the seller to pay as much of the closing costs , pre-paid and escrow items as possible, but lighten up on price. This is all based on the price being at or near fair market value. If it is obvious the house is overpriced then it may be justifiable and explainable to ask for price reduction plus closing costs.

And on the repair items found during inspection, try to make the list short and focused on common sense.

A seller will understand some repair requests because they make sense to a home-owner, but loading every little defect into a long list of small items will only create the psychological effect of resistance.

The main thing is to go for what is most important to you, so that negotiations aren’t bogged down or don’t’ fall apart. Focused, clean and simple – that is my motto.