Leading buyers advocate Cate Bakos outlines a few ways to make an offer the vendor can’t refuse.
As a homebuyer, if your purchase method is not ‘under the hammer’, chances are you will be dealing with negotiation in some shape or form.
Whether that’s negotiating with the vendor via the agent, negotiating against other competing buyers or submitting a ‘one and only’ offer, it’s important to think carefully about how to make your offer stand out for all the right reasons.
When it comes to your dream home, it’s important to feel good about your offer. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
Put yourself in the vendor’s shoes
Without a good understanding of the vendor’s situation it can be very difficult to frame your offer in the right way.
For example, if a vendor has already secured their next home, ensuring that your offer presents a settlement date that makes their purchase stress-free can make a world of difference.
Nobody likes renegotiating their settlement date for their next move; having to bunk up with family or friends if it’s avoidable; or worst of all, facing expensive bridging finance.
Merging settlement dates is the first tip.
There may also be other things you could suggest that may help your offer appeal to the vendor, such as allowing them to rent the property back from you for a short period while they property search, build or take time to pack.
Finding out more about the vendor’s next move is not always as easy as it seems and good agents will generally guard their vendor’s privacy.
So rather than cornering an agent for this type of information, adopt a supportive approach with the vendor in mind.
An agent can be your friend, not your enemy, when helping you secure ‘the one’. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
Ask the right questions
Good questions include “Is there a particular settlement date that the vendors would prefer?”, or “Can you suggest any conditions or terms I could offer that would strengthen my offer?”.
An important factor to consider is risk, and more importantly, the risk that your offer represents to the vendor, particularly when they are faced with competing offers. If your offer is subject to a set of conditions, for example, the vendors will take them into account and they will likely weaken your offer.
Of course, all vendors are different, however a vendor who’s experienced a previous sale ‘fall over’ due to finance not being obtained is likely to be nervy about a finance clause.
Likewise, if their property is old and they are faced with two offers, they will favour the offer which is not subject to a building inspection.
Being prepared, having pre-approval in place and finding a building inspector to do the inspection in a shorter time frame can make all the difference.
Visit Suncorp’s handy home buying guide for more tips about buying a home.
