Selling your home can truly be frustrating and confusing. One of the top challenges you have to deal with is handling low ball offers. A low ball offer is a purchase offer from a potential home buyer that is low enough to insult you. They do this for many reasons and the most common one is because they feel the home is not worth what it’s listed for.
Some will consider an offer $5,000 while some will even go below $15,000 the asking price. But to give it a clear definition, a low ball offer is 25 percent or more below the asking price ( It has actually turned into 20 percent in this current limited-inventory environment). Either way, it definitely won’t work.
Added frustration is the fact that you spent hundreds or thousands of dollars transforming your home and staging it, only to receive an insulting offer. Low ball offers can be extremely stressful themselves, surely. So how do you handle them?
First of all, the goal is to sell your home. Focus on this goal and everything will follow smoothly. Secondly, control your emotions. It’s a frustrating process, we know, but losing your temper will not help you sell your home.
Next, do realize that any offer can jump-start an ultimately successful negotiation. That being said, do not refuse immediately. Most buyers are often willing to raise their offers by increments that may become acceptable to you. In other words, never let a deal die on your end unless it’s plainly ridiculous.
So choose to tell the buyer that while you appreciate the offer, you’ll have to pass on it. Doing this shifts the decision back to the buyer whether or not he or she will have to come back with a better offer later on.
Also, when evaluating an offer, be sure to consider all of the buying party’s terms. Ask about when they’re willing to close, what repair credits they request, and their financial wherewithal to perform.
Make sure to tell your agent you want to hear all offers too. Among all offers, you are surely find one that you can settle with if you follow these tips. Do realize however that you may need to lower down expectations, especially if your house has lingered on the block for quite some time now.
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