What do you do when your home is listed for say, $500,000 and you get an offer for $350,000? Here are my 3 suggestions:
Don’t get offended
Counter back full price
Move on with life
Often, low ballers are a waste of time. And this is why you shouldn’t waste an ounce of energy in getting offended by such offers.
But from time to time, they are legitimately testing waters, or your level of motivation. So my advice is to return the favor and test their motivation to buy by countering full price and wait for their reaction, if any.
Again, since chances are that they are wasting time, after you counter, move on with life and focus on the goal. Selling your home to the right buyer at the right price.
Questions about your home value? Call / text (305) 305 1535 or email me!
The answer is that there is no right answer. There is no “normal” amount or “customary” figure. It all narrows down to your level of motivation to acquire the property. Tipically, stronger contracts tend to offer more deposit, and vice versa. Some other factors to consider when determining an amount:
The other party’s motivation (whom you are negotiating)
Are you competing against other offers?
How long the property’s been on the market?
How strong (or weak) are the other terms in your contract?
Questions about your home value? Call / text (305) 305 1535 or email me!
It’s so much simpler than you think! Scary isn’t it?
I’ll write this post from a buyer’s perspective. To be more precise, am writing this post due to a recent closing where I represented the buyer for a home located at Encore / Panache, a community in West Kendall. And NO…my buyer did not loose his deposit. We closed…yeeeah!
So get ready. Any sellers reading this post? Smile…heck…you’re the one that stands to get the money 🙂
The possibility of loosing your good faith deposit when buying a home is tied up to several financing contingencies. But none of them are as important as the letter of commitment contingency (LOC). And the date when you are to provide this LOC to the seller is determined during contract negotiations.
This date should be as important as your wedding anniversary (or divorced date) or your child’s birth. YES…it’s that important considering deposits range in the thousands of dollars.
The obvious reason is because you forgot the date or didn’t even know you had to provide this letter.
WRONG! There is only ONE way to loose your deposit. And the answer is: your real estate agent and mortgage broker f##ked up. Pardon my language, but am very “passionate” about this type of negligence.
Simply put. During contract negotiations…it is when this LOC date is established. Who writes the contract? Your real estate agent. Once you have an executed contract, it gets delivered to your lender to start financing process. Who’s in between you and your lender? The mortgage broker.
So what’s the moral of the story here? Always inquire about the safety of your deposit. And keep asking verbally and in writing until the deal closes. During the purchase process, there are too many balls you have to juggle to be on top of everything. And you should not have to.
Mario Avalos 