In a real estate negotiation, having 4 or 5 (or 6) big negotiables will only complicate the process. What is a negotiable? A negotiable is an item that needs to be agreed upon in order to move forward in the transaction.
The biggest negotiable of them all is (99% of the time) the price. Money can be the great compensator in real estate, or nearly any transaction. I want $200,000 and a June 25th closing. You offer me $205,000 and quite often that June 25th date may be a little less important.
So, as a seller, what are your big negotiables? If price + closing date + keeping the fridge + not fixing the broken garage door opener + no sale-of-property conditions are all major sticking points for you as the seller, you may find the buyer has an easier time of passing or cooling off during a negotiation.
Furthermore, if you have a cumbersome list of negotiables, the ultimate price can suffer as the buyer attempts to carve out some kind of victory. If the buyer has had to close earlier or later than they wanted while the seller takes all of the appliances out of the kitchen plus the garage door is non-functional, they may not be willing to pay that top (or top’ish) dollar that you were hoping for.
We see it time and time again. The quicker the number of negotiable items can be reduced, the better chance that an agreement can be met. Offers that are simply going back and forth based on dollars are quite often more likely to go together as there are less compromises, less frustration and more good-will between buyer and seller.
So, when you are looking to sell, it is always a great idea to come up with a plan. What closing date are you really able to handle (bridge costs)? How important are those appliances (11 year old fridge)? What can you do to allow the buyer to slide into a negotiation with the least number of obstacles as possible? Make sure you have a firm grasp as to what conditions really mean including the often-dreaded ‘Sale of Property’ condition.
The list goes on…
Reduce the number of mini-battles, get to the basics, be fair, reasonable and patient and hire a REALTOR that can help navigate you through the many steps involved.
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THEbTEAM.
Thank-you to Headway for the photo.