What to keep in mind when accepting offers?

When selling your property, there is a strong chance of being presented with an offer for less than the asking price, before you accept you may want to consider the following.

The obvious question one would ask is “ can I get more? “ a good idea would be to look at other recent sales in your area, if your property is of similar size and setting but you have an offer for less than a property in line with yours....speak to the agent and ask why? It is important to be neutral in this decision and not allow emotions to run high as there may be valid reasons why “other” properties achieved higher selling prices.

One must consider the time it has taken to get the offer on the property. The longer a property spends on the market the less marketable the property becomes. Buyers will start asking “why” as well.

How active is the area you are looking to sell in and can you afford waiting longer before getting another offer.

Ask the agent for feedback as to the buyer’s impression of the property. It may be that they have seen something they would like to “fix” or change and have dropped their asking price to allow for this. Feedback like this can be invaluable as it will give you a fresh perspective on what buyers are seeing and saying.

If the offer is substantially less than the asking price, make sure your asking price is realistic and in line with the “other” properties on sale in the area. The Property Leader program can help you decide. By getting a valuation done through the property leader program FNB can give you an idea of what the market should be prepared to pay for your property.

Make sure the offer covers all the cost on the sale as well as on the new property you may be looking to buy. Take into account the estate agents commission, the outstanding bond amount (if bonded), the costs on a new property, and possibly a deposit? A total cost of around 8% on the new property may be applicable.

If your property has been on the market for some time and the feet through the door on show house days has dwindled, perhaps you need to revisit the asking price and or the marketing strategy of the agent. If the offer is an attractive one , don’t be caught stalling further by holding out too long, the longer your property stays on the market the more chance there is of getting an even lower offer. One must also consider the cost / time relationship once an offer has been received. The cost time relationship is based on the amount of time it will take to get a better offer and by how much, waiting an extra two months for a R20 000 increase in offer is something that would need to be factored in before declining the current offer, is it worth the waite?

 Accepting an offer is not easy, but, indications that you may need to do a price check comes from the time your property spends on the market and the number of offers you receive. A correctly priced property sells quicker. The FNB Property Leader Program can help guide you in making that all important decision.