Are You Getting a Fair Price For the Home You Want to Buy?
People who buy homes are often faced with the question of whether the list price is fair or not, and whether they can offer a lower amount for the property (and if they can, how low can they offer?). Arriving at a figure is rarely something you can do with just one glance. Real estate agents can do this because they are professionals who work with fluctuating prices and differing real estate markets all the time. As a regular home buyer, especially for people who are only buying houses for the first time, it’s not such a clear-cut method. Here are a few pointers for you to determine how much is a fair price for a home and what fair price you can offer to the seller during negotiations.
Have a point of reference. Some people wrongly assume that all list prices are higher than the selling price owners are willing to settle for. For example, if a home owner is listed at $500,000, some buyers readily assume that the home seller is really willing to settle for lower than that and is just pegging the price higher than their expectations to make room for negotiations. The truth is that some home owners don’t want to negotiate anymore and when they put $500,000 as the list price, they mean that it’s the final price. Offering lower than this would make the seller think that you’re not serious about buying the house. In order not to make a seemingly ill-informed offer, it’s best if you did your research first.
You can research how long the house has been waiting to be sold. If the house has been sitting a long time on the market, this could indicate that the owner may be willing to negotiate a lower price. You can also use other houses in the area as a point of reference. Look for comparable houses, check their list prices and check how much they sold for. You can also check out the condition of the real estate market in the area in order to make an informed decision. Check how many houses went for sale and how many houses got sold in the past year. This should give you an insight on how eager the seller may be to dispose of the house by now, considering the market.
Even if you’re looking at comparable houses, it’s still important to look at the condition of the house you want to buy. Check the house for any immediate repairs that need to be done. If the seller won’t have it repaired, you can ask for the repairs to be deducted from the list price. If the house is relatively well-maintained, there might be a good reason why it’s priced that way. There are a lot of tell-tale signs that will give you further hints whether you can request the home seller to lower the price of the house.
Having a valid point of reference will show the home seller that you have a clear idea what you’re doing and that you’re making an informed decision.
