To negotiate your next house purchase successfully you need to reach an agreement that satisfies both you and the seller. Here's some practical advice on how you can reach this agreement with the minimum friction, and how best to work round common sticking points.
Know Yourself (and Your Limits)
Be honest with yourself over the maximum price you're prepared to pay. This may vary by property. When you're willing to pay more for one of two similar properties that tells you something about how happy you'd be in that home. If so, an extra ten or twenty thousand pounds will feel like money well บ้านมือสอง spent five or ten years from now.
Don't forget all the associated costs (conveyancing fees, survey costs, mortgage arrangement fees, Stamp Duty etc). When you buy a family home in Southern England these extras can easily add 6% to the agreed sale price.
Understand the Vendor's Agenda
Professional negotiators in complex trade talks or peace negotiations put great emphasis on grasping what the other parties really want. But in a residential property negotiation, you only need answer two simple questions.
Firstly, what is the vendor's position? Look for clues about how negotiable the asking price really is. In theory sales with a distress element (such as divorce or business failure) should weaken the vendor's position and strengthen your own. In practice distressed individuals can surprise you with their intransigence. Such situations are rare and unpredictable. A more commonly relevant enquiry is whether the vendor has found somewhere to buy. This can influence their commitment to a timely sale.
Secondly, what will the vendor accept? You can ask outright. But don't be surprised when you're stonewalled by the blunt response "the asking price". Professional search agents often get a more candid reply. If you can't get a helpful response use your initial bid to get proper feedback.
Bid Smart, not Hard
Making a formal offer qualifies you as a serious buyer. The vendor's agent should reciprocate by indicating what would be an acceptable offer. However if you open too low, they'll rightly doubt your credentials as a serious buyer. You'll then need a substantially improved bid to regain credibility. The vendor may treat this as your first bid, and expect a higher offer still. So lowball bids can deliver results, but they have risks attached.
A lower risk approach is to make your opening bid conservative but reasonable. If they accept, great: if not, expect sensible feedback. Then you can frame a second offer that's harder for a serious vendor to decline.
There's no one right or wrong way to negotiate, but I always prefer to agree the sale quickly whenever possible. That's why a couple of well-chosen bids make more sense than protracted haggling. But when you refer to your "best and final offer", make sure you mean it.
Don't Get Adversarial
Avoid a "winners and losers" mindset. Successful negotiation demands an outcome that satisfies both parties.
Never knock the property you're buying. So the kitchen is not to your taste? Then find somewhere else, but don't expect the vendor to subsidise your installation costs. Think how badly you'd react to this suggestion from a potential buyer! However structural issues or imminent major replacement/ maintenance costs are not always fairly reflected in the asking price. That's why offers are always made "subject to survey and contract".
Treat the vendor's agent courteously. While they're contractually bound to protect their client's interests, the commercial reality of a commission driven industry is subtly different. Agents face pressure to hit targets. As soon as you're acknowledged as a serious buyer, they'll be keen to see the deal through. Agents really can help manage difficult vendors at this stage.
Be prepared for agents to exaggerate the level of interest around a property. Don't panic. Simply respond with a calm request for more details. Ask open questions about other potential buyers, and agents will struggle to mislead convincingly. You need to know if you face a bidding war or a contract race. If in doubt, ask. Agents aren't obliged to disclose the level of any competitive offer, but they'd be pretty brazen and/ or foolish to pretend genuine offers exist when none do.
Bring Other Currencies to the Table
Make the vendor aware of your advantages as a buyer early on. Proceed-ability counts. Make sure they know if you're sale agreed or chain free. Emphasise your finance is already guaranteed.
You may reach stalemate where the price is affordable but still a little higher than you'd like. Think about how else you might barter. If your children are starting at a new school, perhaps you'd insist on completion by a set date? If you like carpets, curtains, or other fixtures and fittings why not ask if they can be included in the deal?
Request all viewings be suspended while you await satisfactory survey results, and press for the earliest possible exchange. Ask the vendor to reciprocate your commitment, but don't forget agents are legally entitled to continue marketing a property until contracts are exchanged.
Play your cards right so vendors recognise your quality as a buyer, and you'll find them as keen to avoid disappointment over the sale as you.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น