How to negotiate a good deal

There are many ways to influence the outcome of a negotiation in your favor and ensure that you are able to purchase the house as close to your terms as is possible. Below we have provided you with a few measures you can enforce while negotiating for a house.

• Do your homework - Watch the market closely and get timely updates of homes coming on the market and learn as much as you can about the market to prepare for the negotiation. Don’t be in a hurry to settle. It’s ok if you don’t buy the first house you walk into. Get a head start by checking out different communities, price ranges and homes on the market. Zero in on the area or areas that meet your needs so as to take some of the indecision out of the process.

• Comparable Market Analysis - Once you have found a home that you are prepared to buy, the first step in your process of negotiation is to determine the fair value for the home. A CMA will list houses in a particular location that are currently on the market, have sales pending on them, have expired from the market, and have sold. Check out properties similar to the kind you are interested in and how much they have sold for.

• Home Inspections - Irrespective of whether it’s a buyers or a sellers market, request a home inspection for the peace of mind of knowing what you are buying.

• Be Reasonable - With so little competition, you may think you can be unreasonable in your offer and use bullying tactics to get an unrealistically good deal. It won't work. Offending a seller will most likely cause them to NOT want to negotiate. Use recent comparables to negotiate. The objective is always to make the deal a "win-win" so that both sides are satisfied with the outcome.