Personalize your offer to increase your chances of success.
Before the young couple made its first bid, the retired teacher had received an even lower bid from an investor who wanted to buy the house and to convert it into a rental unit. She promptly rejected it without even so much as a counteroffer.
However, the seller was more than willing to negotiate with the young couple, who loved many features of her 50-year-old house, including its spacious first-floor family room. Though she didn’t accept their initial bid, she advanced a very reasonable counteroffer and the transaction soon closed.
When making a lowball bid, Davis suggests you attach a brief handwritten note to introduce yourself to the sellers and to tell them why you like their place.
“Home sellers are much more likely to warm up to people who appreciate their property. It’s an art form to convince the owners you’re not just a ‘grab and run’ opportunist, particularly now that investors are coming out of the woodwork,” Davis says.
By: Ellen James Martin, UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
