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| YourDomainHere.com | Name@Email-Address.com 14 INSPECTIONS THE "ONE" TITLE CLOSING MOVING PREPARATION INSURANCE FINANCING Buying a house is all about mastering the art of negotiation. Contrary to what many buyers think, the purchase price is only one piece of the puzzle. Here are four of critical negotiation points that will help you craft an offer that works in your favor and appeals to the seller. 1. Offer Price Obviously, price is top of mind for both buyers and sellers; however, they have completely opposite priorities. Most buyers know that the listing price for a property is a suggestion of what the seller is hoping to make on the sale but determining how negotiable that price may be is where many deals fall apart. Many sellers need to make a certain prot on the sale of their home after real estate commission expenses, closing costs, and outstanding loan debt. Buyers with a mortgage can distribute an increase in price over the length of their mortgage. Given this, some buyers may have more exibility on price than sellers. Should you choose to negotiate on price, it's a good idea to have a strategy for doing so. Be cautious going in with too low of an offer. Sometimes, sellers will refuse even to give a counter on a low-ball offer. 2. Contingencies The fewer contingencies a buyer includes in an offer, the more appealing the offer appears to the seller. Simply put, fewer contingencies means fewer chances for the deal to go south. Each contingency outlined in the purchase contract must be satised in a way agreed upon by both the buyer and the seller. If any one of the contingencies is not met, both parties have the option to dissolve the contract. Contingencies exist for a reason, mostly to protect buyers. The two most common contingencies are inspection and nancing. The inspection of a property is vital and should not be skipped, but you could shorten the length of time to complete the building inspection as long as you give enough time to get it all done. 3. Closing Schedule Typically, the closing date falls somewhere within a 30-60 day time frame from the date the contract is signed and the parties enter escrow. Factors such as a high number of contingencies to fulll can lengthen the closing schedule while buyers making an all-cash purchase can shorten it. The closing schedule becomes important if you're looking to move on a specic date. For example, you may have a set start date for a new job, or you're trying to sell your old home at the same time. Timing is key, yet the ability to be exible to the seller's schedule could make the seller more open to accommodating your requests in other areas of the deal. 4. Closing Costs The buyer and the seller typically split the closing costs; however, these fees can be another negotiation point. For example, the buyer might request that the seller cover the buyer's half of the closing costs by subtracting that cost from the sales price (sometimes known as seller concessions). Buying real estate is not only the best way, the quickest way, the safest way, but the only way to become wealthy. – Marshall Field "

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