Tag Archives: negotiation

Cups of tea and books on top of a wooden table

Proceedable buyers generally have mixed emotions about their impending purchase right now. On the one hand, they may be feeling a little invincible, being one of the highly sought-after minority that currently make up less than 25% of active viewers. As a consequence, they may well be looking at properties which were previously out of their price range, anticipating a hard-ball negotiation with the seller.

The other emotion they are probably experiencing is fear, or at the very least, nervousness. Has the market reached its depths? Is it going to fall further? Will they be trapped in negative equity?

Sellers – you need to appreciate your buyer’s motivations and issues in order to be better placed to negotiate with them successfully, and end up with a committed buyer and a good deal.
Here are my suggestions for a mutually beneficial outcome:

1. Don’t rush them – buyers are understandably a little jittery at the moment and they may need longer than usual to make up their minds.

2. Compete well – investigate your competition – buyers are now looking at one average, 15 – 20 properties before deciding to offer on one, so you need to be the best in your category. If you offer the best deal in the area, you can be more confident about your asking price.

3. Give a little away – house buying and selling is a very fraught time, with many obstacles to be overcome before completion. If you have the foundations of a good relationship with your buyers, they will feel more willing to make compromises and be flexible over say, included fixtures and fittings or completion dates.

4. Communication – if things start getting a little tense, ask your agent to facilitate a ‘round table meeting’ if you discuss matters face-to-face with your buyers, there is less chance of misunderstanding occurring and third party corruptions of conversations.

5. Expect the unexpected – in this market, there is every chance that your buyer may get cold feet, may lose their buyer, have their mortgage offer withdrawn or may try to gazunder you. The latter is when a buyer deliberately waits until you are ready to exchange contracts then drops their offer, often significantly. Decide on an action plan for each and all of these eventualities, and don’t start packing until it’s signed.

By following these 5 rules, you will keep your buyer ‘on side’ and the obstacles and challenges you meet along the way won’t seem so insurmountable.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Cups of tea and books on top of a wooden table

Proceedable buyers generally have mixed emotions about their impending purchase right now. On the one hand, they may be feeling a little invincible, being one of the highly sought-after minority that currently make up less than 25% of active viewers. As a consequence, they may well be looking at properties which were previously out of their price range, anticipating a hard-ball negotiation with the seller.

The other emotion they are probably experiencing is fear, or at the very least, nervousness. Has the market reached its depths? Is it going to fall further? Will they be trapped in negative equity?

Sellers – you need to appreciate your buyer’s motivations and issues in order to be better placed to negotiate with them successfully, and end up with a committed buyer and a good deal.
Here are my suggestions for a mutually beneficial outcome:

1. Don’t rush them – buyers are understandably a little jittery at the moment and they may need longer than usual to make up their minds.

2. Compete well – investigate your competition – buyers are now looking at one average, 15 – 20 properties before deciding to offer on one, so you need to be the best in your category. If you offer the best deal in the area, you can be more confident about your asking price.

3. Give a little away – house buying and selling is a very fraught time, with many obstacles to be overcome before completion. If you have the foundations of a good relationship with your buyers, they will feel more willing to make compromises and be flexible over say, included fixtures and fittings or completion dates.

4. Communication – if things start getting a little tense, ask your agent to facilitate a ‘round table meeting’ if you discuss matters face-to-face with your buyers, there is less chance of misunderstanding occurring and third party corruptions of conversations.

5. Expect the unexpected – in this market, there is every chance that your buyer may get cold feet, may lose their buyer, have their mortgage offer withdrawn or may try to gazunder you. The latter is when a buyer deliberately waits until you are ready to exchange contracts then drops their offer, often significantly. Decide on an action plan for each and all of these eventualities, and don’t start packing until it’s signed.

By following these 5 rules, you will keep your buyer ‘on side’ and the obstacles and challenges you meet along the way won’t seem so insurmountable.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

A glass candle, books, a binocular small telescope and a glass window overlooking the trees outside

You find a buyer, you negotiate the purchase price, you both agree on a figure that is slightly unacceptable to both of you (in other words, fair) and then the survey results come in.

Either he’s highlighted lots of work that needs doing (regardless of the fact you’ve lived there for 30 years without a problem) or he’s valued the property at less than the agreed purchase price, or both.  And now, you have a buyer that wants to renegotiate on the purchase price.

This week, this happened to me. For those of you who have read my post Putting my Money where my Mouth is, you’ll know that I was feeling rather chuffed with myself, having agreed a purchase price of £190,000 on a little cottage I had refurbished. The surveyor’s valuation report showed a valuation figure of £190,000. So far, so good. However, as it’s a 400 year old thatched cottage, I braced myself for any ‘works needed’ to be listed, and sure enough there were some suggestions that “the thatch may need replacing in the next ten years” and “the chimney may need to be repointed within the near future”. I breathed a sigh of relief; nothing particularly onerous there then, and after all, he’d agreed with the purchase price. All was well, or so I thought……

The purchaser came back straight away and dropped his offer by £10,000; the amount he said that would cover all the works ‘needed’. “But the valuation was £190,000” I protested. He would go away and think about it, he said.

The next day, he came back with a suggestion to split the difference, at £185,000. As I knew that interest in the cottage was still running relatively high, and I’d already cancelled two viewings, I refused, explaining that I wasn’t going to pay for works which weren’t urgent, and which would add value to his investment. I would however, in the spirit of goodwill, agree to pay 25%, and would therefore agree to sell him the cottage at £187,500. He refused. We reached a stalemate. He walked away.

I was pretty cross, but when the agent called me with two new viewings, I felt a bit better. The second of the two viewers asked permission to bring a thatcher round.  Here we go again I thought…. Then she called following his visit and offered £190,000. As it was her first offer, I decided to be bold. After all, she didn’t know that I’d already accepted £190,000, so I went back with a counter offer of £192,000, which she accepted. Hurray!

The survey is booked for next week. Watch this space……

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.