We had an offer last year that was supposed to close the end of November. We asked the buyer to move it up to the Friday before Thanksgiving - that still gave them a month to get the papers in order - so it could all be done and they could move in for the holiday.

They agreed, and it would have all worked out fine except they had some glitch at the last minute ... our contract said they couldn't take possession until 3 days after the actual *close* - and the sale wasn't really closed until the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.

I don't know if they went ahead and moved in for Thanksgiving or not. We had already moved out of state the previous weekend. I didn't care if they obeyed the 3-day possession clause or not, since we were gone ... I hope they were able to have Thanksgiving Day in their new house ...

I know that having the sale finalized, closed, no turning back, made it the best Thanksgiving Day we'd had in a long time, even in a new place with no friends or family around. Having the house *sold* and not just *in escrow* - I was very thankful ...

Just a thought for you. And congratulations on getting the offer!

I would try to negotiate a bit. IMO, if you don't, buyers will feel like they've paid too much. It's a psychological thing.
I would chip off a little. Ask your REA if she/he thinks they'll negotiate. If you're ok with the offer tell your REA that (she/he should know what to tell the buyers agent, in case they are inflexible, cuz you don't want to loose the deal), but still try to see if the buyers will budge.

Try not to pay the closing costs, or split them. If giving Home Warranty, sell it as is. No $500 for repairs.
GET A LARGER downpayment (This is the most important one. Even if they don't go for the other stuff). They are less likely to walk if they invest more money.

Can you move up the closing a bit? I know they need time for financing. You can always extend the closing. This will decrease your stress level, just in case they try to back out.
Congrats & good luck.

When you counter there is always risk.

That said, and knowing how much you want that "Sold" sign in the front yard, I also would counter with removing the $500 in repairs since you're providing the home warranty.

I wouldn't go further. If $500 makes or breaks the deal they probably can't afford the place anyway.

The earnest money deposit is not unreasonable considering the price of the house. An extra $1,000 would be nice but I wouldn't push it.

What's the 10-day option thing?

Hey, CONGRATULATIONS!

/tricia

I would try to negotiate a bit. IMO, if you don't, buyers will feel like they've paid too much. It's a psychological thing.

I agree. My sellers (closed today) just signed off, didn't come back with a thing. So I wondered just what the bottom was and if I'd left money on the table. Go back with some small thing, even if you're okay with the numbers. (Although if I were giving $3500 in closing costs I wouldn't want to pay the title insurance on top of it...).

I think I'd try to negotiate a bit as well. Although I've never sold a home in a buyers market and don't know how to deal with the skittish buyers of late. I would probably counter with $162,500 and pay the closing costs, title, home warranty etc. Talk to your realtor and get a feel for how skittish these buyers are. Otherwise, if the offer is acceptable and the buyers are acceptable then take it.

Sorry thought the home was listed at $169,000 - i misread. I'd take the $159,000 if that's what they're offering and probably counter by not paying the title.

geez, the seller has an offer, one that apparently they would take, so why nickel and dime the buyers? maybe say you'll agree to all IF they up the earnest $$$..This way you are not rejecting their offer, but protecting yourself from an unfortunate situation, if one arises

Take it. Who cares if they "feel" that they didn't get a great deal, etc. You would have a contract.

If you counter, they could walk away and you then have nothing.

I think 10 day option means they can walk away for any reason during the 10 day period.

Are you ok paying the closing and the title insurance? Only take it if you are OK with this. I would be.

With the title insurance, those closing costs sound like alot. Perhaps counter back that you will only pay actual closing costs, not points etc.

I wouldn't pay the repair fees if you're offering a home warranty, especially if the repairs are small.

You could also counter that you will pay the $500 repair fees, but no home warranty.

Is there a fridge or W/D that you can throw in in exchange for something like the repair costs?

Who cares if they "feel" that they didn't get a great deal, etc.

Because he has his repair costs capped, it really doesn't matter much if they feel good about it or not. In my case, "feeling" like they jumped too quickly at the deal led to my asking for another $10K after the inspection and getting $5K. But in this case if he's okay with all of it, then yeah, probably better to go ahead and do the deal. Although $1K seems awfully low for earnest money, but I know that varies place to place.

I would only consider the closing costs plus paying for the title insurance - seems to me like a way to get additional closing costs - since title insurance is generally included in the closing costs - I would simply offer "X" towards total closing costs - or half or whichever. It appears they are looking to not have to come out of pocket with much at the closing.

But it's your house and your sale, what ever makes you happy - and comfortable.

MP

I'm a she, actually.

Good points, everyone. I really appreciate it.

I should have been more clear that the $500 in repairs would be for lender-required ones.
The 10 day option is a Texas thing I think. Gives the buyer time to get inspections done etc. before they are fully committed. If they walk within those 10 days, they lose the option money (in this case $100, usually I've seen $25-50) but not their earnest money.

As for the seller paying title insurance, I thought that was standard for this area too. If not, my last realtor really misled me.

I'm mulling over my counteroffer. I think I'll not try to monkey with it too much. I do want the house sold and this buyer seems a lot more solid than others I've dealt with.

canobeans--we don't really know what your market is like as you know, but as I see it you've got an offer for roughly 97% of your current asking price. Your original asking price is not really relevant to the current offer. You made an adjustment because that seemed to be the right thing to do to get your home sold and it worked.

The 3500 in closing costs doesn't necessarily seem excessive--it just depends upon the type of financing the buyers' are using.

What did seem excessive to me was the cost of the title insurance. I just checked how much that policy would cost here--$528 for the owners policy plus $175-150 for the secondary (mortgage) policy. I thought title insurance was roughly the same everywhere? FYI--In my area it's customary for the seller to pay for the owners title policy and the buyer to pay for the mortgage policy.

I wonder if some didn't understand the $500 in repairs--it's a cap. It doesn't mean you automatically have to repair something if it's not broken, but the seller won't have to pay out more than $500.00 Based upon some of the posts I've seen here, that's a pretty valuable consideration.

The only thing I didn't see you mention directly is if the buyers come with a preapproval, not prequalification letter.

Is your market moving or are things sitting? How soon do you want to move?

rrah - in Texas the title insurance is commonly 1% of selling price and the common practice is for the sellers to pay it.

I don't see anything wrong with their offer and it seems like a good one. Maybe negotiate for a shorter option period would be my only suggestion if you wanted to negotiate. 10 days is pretty standard though so the buyer can get an inspection and stuff taken care of in that time. I think the option thing is a Texas thing too as I rarely see it mentioned here. Just helps in not having to have any contengencies.

The ONLY thing I'd counter with on this offer is to get more earnest money. We were once sellers of a $169,000 home and had a buyer walk 3 days before closing...it cost us extra lawyer's fees. All else seems trivial to me. If you can, get the earnest money as close to $5000 as possible.

Thanks again for the feedback.

I talked to my realtor and learned more about the buyer. It's a VA loan, thus the lender-required repairs issue. And buyers aren't allowed to pay some closing costs on a VA loan as I understand it. She would like to close earlier but can't due to a court date.

Going lower on closing costs wasn't working for the buyer, so my agent suggested bumping the purchase price up to cover. So right now we have a verbal agreement for $160,500 and everything else stays as originally presented. Should have signed contract in hand tomorrow. This feels like it's going to be a go. Yay!

wow--thanks for the info lyfia regarding title insurance.

I'm really surprised to learn the price varies from state to state, but I guess it makes sense as other types of insurance vary from state to state. I guess this head cold I've been dealing with the last few days is really messing with me still :)

And congratulations to canobeans!

I'm a she, actually.

Whoops! So sorry!

I'm so glad to hear everything is working out so well!

rrah, In Atlanta today I paid $1300 for title insurance -- $620 for the lender's and $680 for the owner's. That's not 1%, though ... more like .25% for the lenders portion and less for ours. One percent, wow, that can be a chunk!

rrah - the rate is set by the Texas State Board of insurance. It isn't fully 1% and I'm not completely clear on how it is set if it is a percentage or not, but using the 1% has always got me real close in estimating.

ask for more in escrow.