Should I Accept an Offer on My House That Is Less than the Asking Price?
There are many tricky questions out there when it comes to selling a home. Anyone that has been through it can tell you that it is not all cut and dried. There are many paths that the process can take wherever you are selling the home on your own or through a real estate agency.
One big question that is hard to answer is if you should accept less for your home than the asking price. There is no right or wrong answer to this but it is definitely a question you should be prepared for. First, you need to find out a couple of things. Since it is natural for us to apply sentimental value to such property you need to find out what it appraises for. You can have this done for a low cost by a professional in your area.
That appraisal will help you to set a realistic asking price. If you are going through a real estate agency then you need to take their commission fees into account too. What amount of that asking price will go to them? Is it going to be in your favor to ask for more so that you can accept a lower offer or so that you can still make a profit after paying the real estate agency? That is definitely a strategy that many people use.
However, it may result in your home sitting on the market for longer than you wanted it to. Should you decide to go that route, stay at that higher price for a set period of time such as three months. If it is not going well and you do not have some seriously interested buyers then drop the price and see if that improves the outlook for you. Make sure you know what the bottom line is though that you can accept for the property.
If you still owe money on the home then it is realistic to assume you want to get at least what you owe from it. Otherwise you end up in a situation where you need to get an unsecured loan for the rest. No buyer is going to go into a contract with you unless they know they will be able to own the home outright or the deed will be sitting with their lender. If you still owe on it then many people will shy away from it if they selling price is not going to clear that deed.
If you feel that the offer a potential buyer is making is too low then do not get discouraged. The good news is that they are definitely interested in buying your home. However, they may have limitations too such as the cap of what they are eligible to borrow on a home loan. You can refuse their offer and hope they will submit another offer that is higher.
Another option is to go with a counter offer. This means you do not accept what they offered but you want them to consider something else besides the asking price. For example you may be selling your home for $ 125,000. The potential buyer submits an offer of $ 100,000. You think that is too low but you can get by with selling your home for $ 115,000.
Therefore you submit a counter offer of that new amount. If they accept it then you move into the next steps. If they do not then negotiations can continue as long as both parties are interested in doing so. You do not want to accept an offer that is too low and causes financial problems for you. By the same token do not hold out for too much or you may not sell that home for a very long time.
Source by Paul Sharp
