Once you’ve found your dream home in El Paso, it’s time to make the offer. This can be a tense time, especially for first-time buyers. But if you do some homework and follow some proactive tips, negotiating can be pleasantly mutually beneficial and, maybe best of all, painless. This chapter will address how to prepare your offer, effective negotiation techniques, and what to expect as you enter this most important phase as a first-time home buyer.
Chapters – First Time Home Buyer Assistance Guide – El Paso Dreaming!
- Housing Market Insights: El Paso Home Buying Fundamentals
- First Time Home Buyer Programs: Financing Your Sun City Home
- Perfect Home Journey: Neighborhoods, Amenities, Matchmaking
- Making the Offer: Negotiation Tactics and What to Expect
- Home Inspection and Appraisal: Navigating the Essentials
- Closing Process: Steps, Paperwork, and Preparing for the Big Day
- Settling In: Tips for New Homeowners in El Paso
- Future Proofing Your Investment: Maintnance and Community
Preparing Your Offer
Realize the Market:
If a buyer’s market, where more homes are on the market than there are qualified buyers, you need not be as aggressive an offer, but on the other hand, if it is a seller’s market (fewer and more qualified buyers), you will have to be much more aggressive.
Figure Out What You Want to Pay:
How much are you willing to pay? That depends on how much the house is worth, how much you can afford and what the competing offers are. Your realtor can help you establish a fair offer price using what is known as a comparative market analysis (CMA).
Keep Contingencies in Check:
Contingencies are conditions that must be met before the transaction can close. These vary by market but typically include an inspection contingency, involving hiring a home inspector to check the condition of the house, a financing contingency (moratorium) and an appraisal contingency. While necessary to protect your interests, limiting contingencies as much as possible will make your offer more competitive in a hot market.
Negotiation Tactics
Be Ready to Move Fast:
Being spry in the downtown markets that thrive in El Paso can mean being prepared to offer on a home as soon as you view it. Get your financing in order so that you’re ready to make an offer.
Start with a Competitive but Negotiable Offer:
The opening gambit that your agent will advise is a competitive offer, one that can still be negotiated. The extent of the gap your agent proposes will depend on the position of the house relative to its asking price, how long it’s been on the market, and how much competition there is for it.
Age and Condition:
Newer homes may require less work but could cost more. Older homes might have more character and be cheaper, but you’d likely need to make more repairs and improvements.
Use Your Knowledge to Your Advantage:
If the home has been on the market for some time or if the seller is moving across country for a job transfer, the seller may be more inclined to move quickly and so you can use this information to negotiate better terms.
Accommodate Preferences around a Closing Date:
If there is a natural closing date that the sellers prefer (such as to keep their mortgage term short at the end of the next month, or to move by a certain moving company’s date, or on the anniversary of the date it was first put on the market) then accommodating that date can be a good way to make your offer more appealing.
What to Expect
Counteroffers:
It is typical for the offer to be countered. Evaluate with your agent the merits of each counter.
Rejection:
Maybe your offer will be rejected. Okay. In a good market, homes are competitive. Don’t panic. Don’t quit looking.
Celebration:
When the seller accepts your offer, give yourself a brief pat on the back but, if you sellers, know that there are still inspections, appraisals and closing preparations to go.
Conclusion
It’s another moment of great anticipation. Riding the crest of the market, preparing a competitive offer, savvy negotiations and being ready when it works and when it doesn’t. Buying a house is about more than just the house; it’s about buying the place where you can develop your legacy. Take your time, be patient and you will find your El Paso home.
And, as the deal nears, the chapter ahead will walk you through inspections and appraisals – the final two obstacles to be cleared before you sign on the dotted line and commit to a new home. Hope all is still well. Want to move forward?