| Once you
find the home you want to buy, the next step is to write an offer – which is not as easy as it sounds. Your offer
is the first step toward negotiating a sales contract with the
seller. Since this is just the beginning of negotiations, you should
put yourself in the seller’s shoes and imagine his or her
reaction to everything you include. Your goal is to get what you
want, and imagining the seller’s reactions will help you
attain that goal.
The offer is much
more complicated than simply coming up with a price and saying, "This is what I’ll pay." Because
of the large dollar amounts involved, especially in today’s
litigious society, both you and the seller want to build in protections
and contingencies to protect your investment and limit your risk.
In an offer to purchase real estate, you include not only the
price you are willing to pay, but other details of the purchase
as well. This includes how you intend to finance the home, your
down payment, who pays what closing costs, what inspections are
performed, timetables, whether personal property is included
in the purchase, terms of cancellation, any repairs you want
performed, which professional services will be used, when you
get physical possession of the property, and how to settle disputes
should they occur.
It is certainly more involved than buying a car. And more important.
Buying a home is a major event for both the buyer and seller.
It will affect your finances more than any other previous purchase
or investment. The seller makes plans based on your offer that
affect his finances, too. However, it is more important than
just money. In the half-hour it takes to write an offer you are
making decisions that affect how you live for the next several
years, if not the rest of your life. The seller is going to review
your offer carefully, because it also affects how he or she lives
the rest of their life.
That sounds dramatic.
It sounds like a cliché. Every
real estate book or article you read says the same thing.
They all say it because it is true. |
