5 Things You Should Know in Order to Negotiate the Best Deal on a New Home

Are you in the market to buy a new home? If so, probably your first priority is finding a house in a safe neighborhood that has all of the features that you want. Your second? Making sure that you can get it at the lowest price possible.

So, in the effort to help you negotiate the absolute best deal possible on a new home, we wanted to provide you with five solid tips. Check these out below:

Research comparable sales. The first thing that you should do is look to see what the recent comparable sales for other houses in that particular area are going for. For instance, if you notice that most of the entry level single family houses are running for around $400,000, then start your offer at about $10-15,000 lower than that. More times than not, it will work in your favor.

Be patient. Once a house has been on the market for more than 60 days or so, typically the owners will get a little anxious. For you, this can actually be a good thing because that usually means that they are getting less traffic in the home; therefore, they are more willing to take a lower bid.

Request certain “upgrades” be made. Although some people assume that the offer that they make on a house has to be based on what it looks like when they do the initial walk-through, remember that the key word to getting a new home is “negotiate”. Therefore, you are well within your rights to request some new appliances or even that the homeowner’s association dues be paid up for the next year. The current owner of the house does not have to say “yes” to these things but usually, in order to sell the house, it’s something that they will strongly consider.

Find out why they want to sell the house. If you ask a company like Excel Real Estate Services for some tips on how to best negotiate a deal on a house, one of the things that they might tell you is that it’s important to inquire why the seller wants to let you go of the home in the first place. Oftentimes, when you are able to find out their motivation, it can give you more leverage when you’re at the negotiating table. For instance, if the owner is preparing to move or is going through a divorce, there’s a really good chance that they are trying to get out of the house just as soon as possible and so they’ll be open to the amount that you’re proposing.

See about them adding the closing costs. Although the real estate market is recovering, it’s still pretty tight and in some ways, for you, that’s a good thing. There are a lot of individuals who’ve negotiated having the closing costs added on to the price of the home. It’s the difference between putting down 20 percent and adding the costs to that and paying 15 percent and paying the closing costs up front. For more information on how to negotiate a great deal on a house, make sure to speak with a local real estate agent or broker.