If you are currently trying to sell your home, you may want to consider sweetening the pot in response to low-ball offers. Rather than heckle over money and bids, here are a few tactics you can try out in order to get as close to asking price as possible.
• Paying for some of the buyers’ title insurance, closing costs and/or points.
• Pay homeowner’s association fees for a year.
• Look into buying down the buyers’ mortgage rate for the first year.
• Cover a year’s cost for a lawn-maintenance/snow removal service.
• Pay or provide an allowance toward moving expenses.
• Provide the buyers with a home warranty.
• Pay for the lawn and pool services for a year.
• Offer a golf club membership, pool membership, or cable subscription.
• Offer an allowance to repaint, new carpeting or for window treatments.Incentives, especially for first time homebuyers, can often do the trick, the site states.
Even in declining markets it is extremely important to be cognizant of comparable properties, and to price one’s home to entice potential buyers to view it and ultimately bid on it. Sellers should reject the temptation to hold out for top dollar, or to price the home at the upper end of what the market will bear. To get a sense of what similar homes are selling for, Investopedia.com recommends:
• Attending open houses
• Perusing the newspaper for local listings
• Ask me to print up comparable listings on the multiple listing service (MLS)
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