The final pieces are falling into place, and you receive an offer for your house. Now you are ready to negotiate with a buyer, sign a contract, wait for your buyer to secure financing, make preparations to move, and finally collect payment and hand over the keys, Throughout this process, your Realtor is at hand positioning each piece until, at last, you have the complete picture:
SOLD, SETTLED, AND MOVED
When you receive a signed offer, RESIDENTIAL RESALE REAL ESTATE PURCHASE CONTRACT, your Realtor will discuss with you the terms and conditions of the offer and provide you an estimated cost sheet. Every seller has three options when presented with an offer, you can accept the offer, reject the offer, or counter the offer. Remember, until you sign, the Buyer can always withdraw an offer if they suffer an ailment called "Buyer's Remorse". Reply as soon as possible because buyers are in the mood to buy when they make an offer but moods change.
Remember the first contract received often turns out to be the best. Experience shows the first 30 days on the market are critical because a backlog of buyers often exists. These buyers have been looking and waiting for a house just like yours. Overpricing misses out on this buyer backlog as does turning down good offers in the early days in the hopes of doing better later.
Negotiating the sales price and terms sometimes means walking a tightrope between the highest price the buyer is willing to pay and the lowest price you can accept. Arriving at an agreement may take patience, psychology, flexibility - and intuition. Keep the dialogue going until you agree on price and terms. Sometimes a low offer can be turned into just what you are looking for.
Rely on your Realtor, who is in a unique position to help negotiations along, since your Realtor knows your situation. Your Realtor is professionally trained to find a meeting of the minds where everybody wins. After all, everyone has the same goal…..you want to sell, the buyer wants to buy, and your Realtor wants to close the transaction.
Your signed acceptance of a written offer becomes your sales contract. Except for removing any and all contingencies, this document is the binding basis for the sale. Contingencies are typically used to smooth acceptance of a contract without delaying the buying decision. Most contracts are contingent upon financing. This is for your protection as well as the buyers, because you do not want to be tied to a buyer who cannot deliver.
The sales contract is the most important document. The terms defined in the writing will be used throughout the transaction. Most important is making sure you know who pays what and what the cost of those items are.