Crafting an Acceptable Offer -
9/29/2014
An agent was presenting a contract to a single, senior woman who was
moving into a retirement home. It was a full price offer with
reasonable terms and timelines but the seller wouldn’t accept it. When
the agent probed deeper, she discovered that the seller was concerned
with her dining room table.
It had been the first piece of nice furniture that she and her
husband had purchased and they had literally spent a lifetime
celebrating and making decisions at that table. It troubled the owner
to think that the table would go to strangers who might not appreciate
it as much as her family had.
The agent told the elderly seller that she knew of a church nearby
that had a community room filled with lovely tables like hers. If she
liked the idea, the agent would call the church to see if they’d like to
have it. Once a new home for the table was found, the sale of the
home went smoothly.
Lower inventory and increased demand in certain price ranges have
increased the frequency of multiple offers on the same home. Sellers
are frequently faced with a decision dilemma on which offer to accept
and the price may not be the most important factor.
Sellers generally need the equity from the sale of their home to
purchase another one but they also don’t want to have to temporarily
move if they’re not able to get into the home they’re
purchasing. Flexible buyers have discovered the value in coordinating
the sale and possession of the homes.
Sellers want to know when they make a decision on an offer, that the
buyers will be able to perform as the contract is written. The more
contingencies that can be eliminated or minimized, the more comfortable a
seller will feel about the certainty that it will close according to
schedule.
The buyer should be pre-approved with all verifications and credit
reports having been done. Simply having a loan officer’s opinion is
definitely not the same thing as a pre-approval.
There is a unique dynamic to every transaction because the parties are
individuals with infinite priorities and values. The art of the deal
takes place when these unique variables are considered to define a
mutually acceptable offer involving price, terms and conditions.
The role and experience of the agents contribute to the successful
outcome.