During your house-hunt mission, you have most probably come across the term “motivated seller”. You must be thinking that what makes a difference? If anyone is putting their house on sale, doesn’t it make them automatically motivated?
To find motivated sellers, and how to negotiate with them, first you need to understand the different type of sellers. It will be useful to deal with them smartly.
The Desperate Seller:
Sometimes a motivated seller is extra motivated to sell the estate. In this case, motivated is a nice word to call a desperate seller. A seller is desperate to sell the property because of various reasons. That could be divorce or job transfer or any other reason.
What to do?: If you find such a seller, all you need to do is to negotiate smartly. Offer for 30% to 35% lower than the fair market value. The seller will argue for a bit and then he will sell you the estate. Don’t offer extra less than market value. It might be not affordable for a seller. Moreover, offering extra low, I.g.: 80% to 90% low can make you look like an unprofessional.
The Tricky Seller:
This kind of seller might have invested in a wrong property. He must have a compulsion about his decision of buying this property, and that is why he wants to get rid of the estate as soon as possible.
Think smartly before dealing. If the property is really nice, why should the owner want to sell it? And, if he wants to sell for some other reason, why not as market value? If the property is having some problem, only a seller wants to give you some discount. Be very much careful.
What to do?: Get a home inspection and city planning report. If the home inspection says that the property is not worthy to buy, don’t go for buying it.
The Savvy Seller:
Some sellers are extra smart. They use ‘motivated seller’ as a ploy to trick you into a bidding war. It makes you think that you are getting the best deal, well if you can, then others too.
What to do?: 1) Get a pre-approval letter for the home loan. It clarifies all details about how much you can afford and how much loan you will get, including the validity time of the approval letter. 2) Make a specific offer that includes price only. Adding preconditions can irritate the seller, so be careful about adding them. 3) House is mostly a bundle of emotional memories. Selling a house is not always a logical transaction, but often a loving one. So, you should show your love for the house in any manner.
The Selling Seller:
Some sellers are not actually motivated, but they like to call themselves so. You can’t really identify them. The agent will never tell you the things, a seller doesn’t want you to know, like how much low negotiation he will approve.
What to do?: If you don’t want more debates and discussions, but the house only, directly offer the asking price, if it is fair with the market value. Offering asking price to any seller, either motivated or not, will always get you the house.
At the last:
To find a motivated seller, you need to keep all these things in mind and think very smartly, as you know now that all those who call themselves as ‘motivated seller’ are actually not. So, find smartly, negotiate fairly.
Get a pre-approval letter for the home loan. In case you need help in formatting pre-approval letters, you can use fillable PDF templates. Check How to Edit a PDF web page for more information.
