First Steps
Using the Household Real Estate Estimate, as well as MLS comps, you should have a good idea of fair market value for a home. Our customers will have varying degrees of excitement, and urgency to buy, a particular home. We need to take their motivation into consideration when writing an offer and make it as strong as possible, if they will be really disappointed if they do not get an accepted offer. I often ask my clients, “how disappointed would you be if you didn’t get this property?” Other times a client may like a home, and see some future potential in it, but will only be interested in getting an accepted offer at a discount to fair market value. This of course requires a different approach. Take into account the buyers motivation and then start crafting a strategy.
Print MLS sheet as documentation, in the event there are any changes. Utilize the data provided from the MLS sheet to build your offer. Are appliances included, excluded, are there any exclusions, what is the occupancy needed by the seller. Its good practice to include the MLS sheet in your offer.
Like buyers, sellers also have their own set of motivating factors and it often pays to figure out what is important to them. Talk to the listing agent and see if they can share what the optimal closing date would be for them. Is the home vacant? Are sellers moving out of state? Is the seller an estate, investor, or is it being sold due to a divorce or other legal issues? When did they buy it and for how much? What is their mortgage amount? You can often find out more about a seller by looking in the tax records, Linkedin / Google their name, or checking in other public records. Household Real Estate displays previous sales and mortgage information on most listings.