Negotiate on a Home: It’s uncommon for a seller to accept the first offer from a buyer. Usually, the seller will either reject your offer for another one or respond with a counteroffer. A counteroffer is often a one-page document that points out the parts of your offer the seller doesn’t agree with. Sometimes, sellers write on the original contract, crossing things out and adding new terms. You don’t have to accept the counteroffer as it is; it’s just the beginning of the negotiation process, and you can suggest changes.
Home-Buying Negotiation Tactics
When negotiating to buy a home, you have two goals that can sometimes conflict:
- To get the best price or deal.
- To get the house.
You’ll probably have to make at least a few concessions to the seller to achieve both. Before negotiations begin, consider your priorities: where you’re willing to give and where you aren’t.
Basic Negotiate on a Home
- Give to get: By holding a hard line early, you can make it seem like you care about specific terms that don’t mean that much to you. Then, you can let the seller have their way on those terms in exchange for other concessions.
- Focus on issues you can solve: If you focus on what you can solve in each negotiation round rather than what you can’t, you can build up momentum and goodwill and make significant issues seem smaller
- Negotiating Strategies for Different Situations
- Some strategies work better in certain situations:
- In a Buyer’s Market:
- Start low: To lower the price, start with a low offer. The risk is that the seller might turn down your first offer.
- Move slowly: Gradually increase your offer to bring the seller closer to your price. The risk is that the seller might get frustrated and stop negotiating.
- In a Seller’s Market or When There Are Many Bidders:
- Avoid bidding wars: Don’t get caught in a bidding war unless you can afford it. Know your highest offer and stick to it.
- Late-Stage Negotiations
- If the negotiations get stuck just when it looked like an agreement was close:
- Go halfway: If you and the seller can’t agree on a number or date, offer to go precisely halfway.
- Be bold: If the negotiations have started progressing, you can restore momentum by giving ground on one point and asking the seller to give on another. But if you’re too bold, you may give up more than you need to.
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