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Making the offer

We wrote the offer at a fair price, but we asked for a couple of items which made the offer a little weaker.  We hoped the Sellers needed the sale badly enough that they wouldn’t mind a long closing, paying some of our closing costs and furnishing a home warranty. Typically, Sellers look for a quick closing (a month or less) because the longer the closing the greater the chance something will happen on the way to the sale.

As my Buyers had done their research on the web, they were well informed about the neighborhood, the schools and all kinds of demographic data which were material to them. So they were committed to the purchase. By federal law, there are things a Realtor cannot disclose about a property. We cannot give you any information on the make-up of a neighborhood with regards to age, sex, religion, race, color, familial status, National Origin, disability or Marital Status.  That also means my buyers cannot be refused a sale based on those classes either. However, I can point my clients to the source for such answers, this is one of the reasons the Buyer’s Advisory is so important.

Unfortunately, the Seller was okay with our offering price but rejected some of our other items, the long close, and the home warranty. My Buyers were angry. Pat said that there were plenty other houses in the area and that we should just walk.  Kim wasn’t so sure. Kim wondered how the Sellers could risk the sale for the price of a home warranty and a couple of weeks. I remembered an experience I had when I lived in India. I ran a kitchen there for several years and occasionally I would purchase large quantities of grain in the market, sometime several thousands of kilos. The first time I went to the market I assumed my purchase would be so large the merchants would be ecstatic over the sale. To the contrary, when I walked in and placed my order they told me I could not buy in their shop. I went of a walk in the market, a little confused. A Fruit Seller told me that in India a relationship must be established prior to a sale, and gave me a slice of mango. So I went back to the shop and asked if the owners would mind having tea with me as I was very thirsty. We had a wonderful conversation and later completed the sale (I also bought a dozen mangos from my Fruit Seller advisor later that day). Sometimes, I learned, the other party needs a conversation, but a relationship is always a plus.

I suggested to my Buyers that we write a cover letter explaining what the house meant to us, why we needed the extra time and that we also offer to pay the home warranty (a very small cost compared to the house). The Seller immediately accepted our counter offer.

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