Home Sellers: Make Your Voice Heard!

You’ve been trying to sell your home for months…Keeping it clean and organized, staging it, maintaining your landscaping, fixing every little thing…Your constantly hear about the terrible housing market conditions….Your agent rarely has an interesting update and you feel like a sitting duck.

It’s not fun lingering on the market. It’s hard to make long term decisions if your move depends on your ability to sell the house. And if you are moving no matter what, then it is a lot of stress of the unknown.

So how exciting it is when your real estate agent calls with the news, “We’ve got an offer!”

Woohoo, break out the champagne and start sighing with relief and……it’s a lowball offer with terrible conditions.

Now what?

Regardless of the market conditions, it is vital that you make your needs and expectations as a home seller heard. Just because it’s a buyer’s market doesn’t mean you don’t exist! In fact, sellers have a lot of control regardless of the market and it is important you know what to do when an offer comes in.

Make your voice heard by the way you choose to negotiate the terms and conditions of the offer, and learn to say, “No.” In my experience, sellers have two different reactions to offers depending on the market. In a seller’s market, they are too brash with their “no’s” and in a buyer’s market they are too shy with their “no’s.”

Now that the market is not tipped in the sellers’ favor, it is important to learn to not be shy, just as it is important to heed some advice. Break down the offer to it’s parts and find some good and bad aspects.

The price is the most important part of any offer. If it is unacceptable, that is fine. Be comfortable saying so, and don’t be afraid of the buyer’s or the agent’s reaction. You are likely to be encouraged to give a counter offer, which is most often a good decision. Regardless of the market, you are not obligated to take an offer with which you are unsatisfied.

Other than price, there is the closing date, which must fit into your life. If the offer price is great, you are encouraged to make arrangements and be more flexible, but incurring unnecessary costs to make an offer work can prove wasteful. The home sale is about changes you decided to make in your life, and it is up to you to protect your interests.

The last important part of the offer to consider is the quality of the buyer. Is there a pre-approval letter? Are they paying cash? What are the chances this buyer will actually come to the closing table? If the buyer is unreliable and not presenting a pre-approval if they seek a mortgage, it is perfectly acceptable to say no. You can end up very worrried the sale will go through and frustrated when it falls apart. Avoid this by seeking buyer qualifications, in any market.

After your long wait, don’t allow the relief of having an offer overshadow the needs and wants for you and your family. Make your voice heard so you’ll be satisfied after the closing.

Are you frustrated with your home sale?