The Orlando Real Estate market appears to be shifting slightly once again and now potential home buyers find themselves in an advantageous position. The days of multiple offers above listing price being thrown at sellers as soon as it hits the MLS are pretty much gone.
The competition among Orlando real estate investors is dwindling in many parts of Orlando and throughout Central Florida. Buyers looking for a home to live in are in a better position to find what they’re looking for at the price that they need it to be. No one knows for sure what’s going to happen but this pause in the Orlando real estate market could be just the break that buyers were hoping for.
The Top 7 Things Orlando Home Buyers Should Know To Negotiate The Best Deal.
1- Human Nature. It’s hard to fight human nature and when there’s a change in the Orlando real estate market, both buyers and sellers think that they have an advantage. The seller will always feel that their home is superior to other homes and completely immune to what the local market is doing. On the other hand potential buyers believe that every seller is about to go into foreclosure and start making absurd lowball offers.
The educated buyer does the proper research and knows exactly what size home they need and how much they can realistically afford. Once they know their numbers, they enlist the help of an experienced Orlando real estate agent to find a home that meets their criteria and submit an offer that’s fair to both buyer and seller.
2-Know Your Comparables. By educating yourself on recent sales in the neighborhood, you’ll be one step ahead of the game and no one will be able to pull the wool over your eyes.
If you insult the seller with a lowball offer, you run the risk of them no longer wanting to deal with you even if you’re willing to come up on your offer. You want the seller to at least look at your offer so that you can start negotiating.
3-Seller Motivation. Your Orlando real estate agent should be able to find out why the seller is selling. There are different degrees of motivation, for example; A seller needing to start a new job in a different city or state will be much more motivated to sell than someone that will only sell if they can get their full asking price. The more you know about the seller’s motivation to move, the better position you will be in to negotiate.
You should also find out how much the seller owes. With the help of your Orlando realtor, this shouldn’t be hard to find out. The MLS will sometimes provide these figures and if not, they can get these numbers from the Orange County Appraiser website.
4-Wait It Out. Usually, after a house has been sitting on the market for a few months and an endless conga line of people have been invading their privacy and dirtying their floors, they’re at a point where they’re anxious and ready to drop the price. However, you do run the risk of somebody beating you to the punch.
5-Adjust Your Criteria. Consider going after homes that need a bit of upgrading but are livable. You could get a better deal by doing this and just do the upgrades little by little after you’ve moved in. Unless you’re a handyman or contractor, don’t get a house that needs major work or you could be setting yourself up for a major headache [and wallet ache].
6-Negotiate Closing Costs. It doesn’t hurt to try and negotiate the closing costs with the seller. For example, you could ask the seller to add the closing costs to the purchase price. It’s much better for the buyer to put twenty percent down and then add the closing costs to the loan amount than to put fifteen percent down and pay the cost upfront. You can also try to get the seller to pay the first year of homeowner association dues as part of the deal.
7-Keep Site Of The Big Picture. If it comes down to a two or three-thousand-dollar price difference from what you wanted to pay, don’t sweat it! Remember that this is a home that you will occupy with your family for years to come and if the only thing that’s keeping you from it is 2 grand, then go for it!
If you end up losing your dream home because you wanted to be the better negotiator, then you could end up regretting it for years to come.
