April 6, 2010
Selling Real Estate | Selling A Home? Look Beyond The Offered Purchase Price
Have you read a real estate purchase and sale agreement lately? They contain pages and pages of blanks to be filled in with the details of a home purchase.
The purchase price is just the first detail.
Next are the terms under which you will be paid that price, beginning with how the buyer is going to come up with the money. The most beautiful terms to any seller’s eyes are, of course, “All cash at closing” with no lender involved. But only a handful of home buyers have the cash to simply write you a check and buy your home.
Most home buyers will be getting a loan, and since the sale is contingent on that loan, you need to look at how much they’re putting down and what kind of loan they’re going after. Talk with your listing agent about the requirements of the loan your buyers want to use. Your home may qualify for that loan, or it may not.
And, your buyers may or may not qualify. Ask to see the pre-approval for their home loan before taking your home off the market.
Next are contingencies. If your buyer makes an offer contingent upon the sale of their home, you or your agent need to do some research and find out how close they are to closing on that home. I’ve seen buyers offer with such a contingency when they had yet to put their own home on the market.
Another scary contingency is one based on receipt of a “Settlement.” I’ve seen people dream for years about what they’ll do when they finally get that settlement. Often it simply isn’t going to happen. Ask for documentation from a reliable source – such as their attorney.
“Contingent upon a home inspection” is a common phrase in a purchase agreement, and it is generally followed by a dollar amount that the seller will spend to correct repairs that the home inspector finds. Talk this over with your agent and decide how much you’re willing to give, because some home buyers will really try to take advantage of this one.
Most homes do have some minor problems, and most home buyers are willing to overlook them or fix them after the purchase. But some, if given free access to your checkbook, will demand that you do everything from replacing a window that’s lost its air lock to installing a new water heater because of its age, to tearing out a sidewalk and replacing it because the home inspector saw a crack.
Closing and possession dates could also be important to you. Some home buyers will ask for early possession – which is always a bad idea. What happens if for some reason the sale doesn’t close? You have a non-paying tenant in your house and you could have a devil of a time getting them out.
But if your situation is such that you want to sell your home but you aren’t quite ready to move out, an offer that allows you to stay a month or two past closing could be better for you than another offer for a few thousand more dollars.
Seller concessions are another item that affects the bottom line when selling a house.
Once you’ve read and understood the entire offer, you or your agent should tally all the numbers and see exactly how many dollars you’ll net once all factors are considered. If you’re looking at more than one offer you may find that one with a lower price at the top of the page actually brings you a higher net at the bottom of the page.
Look beyond the purchase price of your home – understand the bottom line.
Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter who specializes in writing for real estate and related industries.
She’ll help you with one letter, or an entire marketing plan. For Real Estate agents and brokers who are ready to get full value from their websites, she’ll be happy to put together an entire package – from the web copy to the lead generation packages that make an agent’s phone ring.
For busy agents on a budget, Marte offers pre-written letter sets for use in postal mail or in e-mail continuity campaigns. The current selection includes letters for FSBO’s, Expired Listings, Short Sale sellers, First Time Buyers, and a set for new agents to send to buyers. Read what’s included in these sets by visiting http://www.copybymarte.com/pro/prospecting.html
Marte’s weekly ezine for real estate professionals offers tips and hints for building a successful business. To subscribe, and to see other resources available for real estate sales professionals, visit her at http://www.copybymarte.com
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6 Comments on Selling Real Estate | Selling A Home? Look Beyond The Offered Purchase Price »
May 28, 2011
hilderm @ 4:28 am:
As the intiator of this page it falls to me to cast the first stone. As one who has been involved in Sydney Real Estate for a number of years now, the buying and selling of real estate should be an exciting time. Sadly however, for many, this is not the case. Agents seemed to have a worse name now than used car salesman, with people both buying and selling real estate constantly feeling ripped off.
But should the agents cop all the flack? Should buyers and sellers share some of this responsibility. Of course they should!!
June 11, 2011
Jordan Khalaf @ 3:45 pm:
actually your story is typical of mine, i've been through such a fucking situation but you know what i did i kept doing what i want don't care if your father is an asshole you just wait for visa and start your new life there there is no need for feeling hopeless just care less about things and think about how many girls there you can get in canada BTW if you want a friend there contact me lol
June 17, 2011
Sheldon (Marketing Consultant, Tauranga) @ 4:06 pm:
What about placing items at eye level? (Or is that about selling real estate to the manufacturer?)
What about putting fruit and vege's at the beginning to create the impression of freshness?
What about the impulse bar at the checkout with chocolates and sweets? Tempting as a last minute treat for yourself and irresistible to kids that you brought with you.
August 8, 2011
Meaghan Kerton @ 5:49 pm:
Hi and good day to you. This is Meaghan from http://www.realestateincanada.net sending you an e-mail to inform you we are now expanding into the international real estate market. We are continuously asked all kinds of questions about buying and selling real estate in Portugal. Now we simply want to link to your site and have you link to ours. We think this linkage will benefit us both. You can find other international link here http://www.realestateincanada.net/links.html. Thank you for your time and we look forward to your response.
Have a great day!
Meaghan Kerton
http://www.realestateincanada.net
905 988 9339
September 15, 2011
Owen Hart @ 2:23 pm:
I gave up trying to find a job that pays remotely near what I was led to believe my Finance degree would pay. Ive been out of school for almost 7 years and have yet to be paid what the "stats" said I should have been paid when I graduated. All 7 years I have been employed in nothing to do with finance, 4 being an accountant, and 3 being an Operations Analyst.
For the past few months Ive been making more day trading than at my job. So Im with you there. The days of doing all the right things and coasting in to a job that will keep you comfortable are dead. Now welcome to double digit student debt, and jobs that cant pay it back, if you are lucky enough to find one that wasnt outsourced or automated.
Its not really an option to play on the worker side any more in the US. The workers are now being supplied by China and India, and you arent going to compete with their wage, and the US isnt going to put in tariffs any time soon. If you arent on the capital side, you likely are going to get run over.
October 6, 2011
alterfemego @ 4:17 am:
Someone didn't dot the "Is" and cross the "Ts" here. Better contact the title insurer.