How to effectively negotiate your Rochester area home purchase so you can get your dream home with the best terms. This is Alex Mayer with Counselor Realty, and I’ll be keeping my favorite tricks for my exclusive clients. But in this short video, I’ll cover some of the core negotiation strategies.
First, it’s all about preparation. Make sure that you are aware of the average days on market, list-to-sales-price ratios, current trends, and the climate in your price point. By being informed about what is happening in the neighborhoods you are searching in, you can position yourself as an educated and savvy buyer, which means you will be seen as a force to reckon with in negotiations.
Also, if you’d like to get up to speed quickly on what’s working here in the Rochester area, make sure to check out the next video as well. In my opinion, this up-front preparation is key to everything in getting the best deal. Whereas many agents will just schedule a bunch of showings, write up a purchase order, and hope that it works out, I see to it that my clients are brought up to speed quickly on how to approach the market in a strategic way. As Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator and author of Never Split the Difference, says, “Hope is not a strategy.”
Once you’ve found a home you’re comfortable making a move on, we first need to prove capabilities as a qualified buyer. Typically, this comes in the form of a pre-approval letter from a lender or approval of funds letter if you’re paying cash. From a negotiation standpoint, it is best to have one of these months in advance, as it shows a seller that you have been ready to jump on the right home for a while and didn’t just wake up this morning thinking you might buy a home.
I would highly recommend Alex! We really gave him a workout, spending about 10 months with him searching for just the right house as we tried to decide if we really wanted to move or not. He was very patient and understanding of our situation/predicament. Alex is knowledgeable, personable and efficient. He really is able to keep the client’s best interest at the forefront. We now consider him a friend as well as our former agent.
So, what goes into making an offer? Well, you can find out more by watching this video here. But the key is to take what we know about home values in that neighborhood, the days on market, property records, and what we can discern about the seller’s situation. This is where all that up-front preparation really pays off. If it’s been on the market longer than normal, there’s a good chance that we could work out a better price. If it’s only a couple days on the market, it could be a little tougher. However, you don’t want to just offer list price if it could be completely out of touch with the market. Having a comparable market analysis prepared for you by a certified pricing strategy advisor could save us all from foreseeable problems down the road that could’ve been avoidable.
You might be thinking, “What happens in multiple offer situations?” And it’s right to consider this, as multiple offers seem to happen often here in the Rochester area. Well, in many situations like this, we’re really just minimizing the damage. A skilled negotiator will tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. In a situation like this, you’re no longer just negotiating with the sellers. You’re also competing with other buyers. This is why it’s important to ask the right questions right away. Sometimes, it’s not always about price. We could work it out with specific terms in the financing contingencies or transaction timelines. It’s important to keep an open mind, as many times this can be where the best deals lie.
Finally, there are multiple negotiations throughout the transaction, from terms on the purchase agreement to handling inspection results and even financing. I see no reason why a buyer should get an amazing deal on the purchase price, only to turn around and overpay on their mortgage. This is why the reputation, skills, and connections of your realtor matters. It means that you can position yourself as an informed buyer in negotiations.
By the way, if you’d like to get up to speed quickly on what’s working here in the Rochester area, make sure to click the link and check out the next video as well. This is Alex Mayer with Counselor Realty. Buy and Sell Strategically.
I would highly recommend Alex! We really gave him a workout, spending about 10 months with him searching for just the right house as we tried to decide if we really wanted to move or not. He was very patient and understanding of our situation/predicament. Alex is knowledgeable, personable and efficient. He really is able to keep the client’s best interest at the forefront. We now consider him a friend as well as our former agent.
