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Negotiating Price

Negotiating Price

How do you go about Negotiating the Price of a seller's property as an Agent / Buyer? Do you have any tips to share?

Price Negotiating

Well, I recently engaged in some negotiating for a house we just bought. The seller wanted $x dollars, and our first intention was to offer $x if the seller agreed to pay all the closing costs c. This would in effect mean that the seller would end up with a net amount of $x-c. The seller, however, had already declined a previous offer (from someone else) which was less than the price they were asking. So, we ended up putting in an offer of $x+b where b is about $500 less than c. We also asked that the washer/dryer remain (the seller had stated they would be taking these with them). The seller agreed to this offer, as they were getting about as much as they wanted, and because we offered them more than they asked for. The gist of this is that as a buyer, you want to offer the seller more than they ask for, but ask for assistance with closing costs. The seller is more apt to accept such an offer seeing that the buyer is trying to accommodate both parties.

Edited: malexander on 12th Mar, 2006 - 3:46am