Three ways to successfully differentiate your offer
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Oct 30, 2018
Three ways to successfully differentiate your offer
When it comes to making an offer on a property, many people believe that price is the only card they hold. But, when your offer is already at a similar price to another buyer’s, how can you differentiate your offer to make it work in your favour?
Well, I always say it’s about price, or it’s about terms. And what I mean by terms, are the things we can negotiate on outside of the price itself.
So, just what terms can you offer to negotiate your way across the line and into a purchase?
There are three things I suggest you consider:
Negotiate a favourable settlement period
The first way I suggest you sweeten the deal, so to speak, is to offer a settlement period that’s favourable to the vendor.
Sometimes extending the settlement period is helpful if the vendor hasn’t yet found a new property to move into. In fact, I recently used this tactic to help my client secure a property when we were up against a similarly-priced offer.
On the other hand, if the vendor has already found a new property, they might prefer to have a shorter settlement, to ensure they’re able to pay for their new property.
Negotiate on the finance clause
The finance clause is also something to consider negotiating on.
For instance, if you’re in a conditional contract and have pre-approval from your bank, you might be in a position to waive the finance clause.
Doing this gives the vendor increased confidence that they won’t need to see through the entire financing process with you just to determine you’re able to fulfil the deal, should they accept your offer.
Consider releasing the deposit to the vendor
The final term you can consider negotiating on involves releasing the deposit to the vendor.
Usually, at the time of making an offer, you put a deposit down, and it sits in the real estate agent’s trust account.
However, if you can release that deposit to the vendor, it means they have the funds on-hand which can potentially be used as a deposit for their next property.
You would need to put a caveat in the contract to ensure you have legal recourse for the deposit to be returned if the sale falls through.
It’s also important to note that this tactic should only be used if you’re comfortable with it and your solicitor gives you the go-ahead, but it can be the strongest negotiating tactic up your sleeve.
So, choose the right negotiating tactic for your situation and it could see the deal go in your favour.
Read more from Josh Masters:
What to look out for when buying a tenanted investment property
Three steps to get access to properties before they hit the market
