3 things to consider when countering a lowball offer on your house
Many homeowners feel insulted when they get a lowball offer. While feeling a bit disappointed at a lowball offer is a natural reaction, it should never distract you from your ultimate goal; that is to selling your home quickly and for top dollar!
A lowball offer can actually jumpstart a successful negotiation. Here are a few tips on how you should deal with one:
It’s just an offer
The first and most important thing you should understand is that under no circumstances an offer can be a legally binding document. It’s just an offer, so it is up to you whether you want to accept it or reject it.
So before reacting mindlessly to a lowball offer, you should first determine how you want to approach the situation. Do you want to outright reject it or do you want to make a counter offer.
After putting your home on the market, you will find that many buyers make lowball offers, but it doesn’t necessarily make them non-serious buyers. They will want to know how firm you are on your asking price. If you make a counter offer, they will consider your price and probably raise their offer amount.
Evaluate your asking price
Did you set the asking price without conducting a comparative market analysis (CMA)? It is a study of homes of similar size and condition sold in the same neighborhood in the past few months.
There are three most important things you should consider when determining your asking price:
- Price of other homes sold in the same neighborhood
- Condition of the house compared to others
- And, amenities and features
If your home is not in poor condition, particularly if there are structural defects, it can have a substantial impact on your asking price.
If your asking price is too high for the number of other properties on the market, you will get lots of offer that you will think fall in the ‘lowball category’.
Don’t sell
If you are getting lots of lowball offers that are unacceptable to you, you can hold the house and sell it later. If you are not living in the property, you will have to bear the carrying costs like homeownership insurance, utility bills, maintenance, repair costs etc.
In conclusion
For most homeowners, selling a home is a very emotional experience. You may have spent years living in your house, raised a family and done a ton of renovations, so you can’t accept the truth that people will make lowball offers for it, but instead of letting emotions overpower your better judgement, you should treat the deal as a business. And, real estate business is a game of negotiations. The first person to lose his or her cool is the one that loses. It is important that you stay calm and don’t react in an emotional outburst.