By Kathy Henne
Contributing columnist
You’ve listed your home for sale, and have high hopes of attracting a great offer. You’re excited and enthusiastic because your agent has shown your home several times. Now, you’ve received a purchase offer that is several thousand dollars less than your asking price, but the buyer has copies of the whole house and termite inspections you had performed when you first listed your home, and is not requiring additional inspections. What should you do?
First, don’t panic. Offers lower than the asking price are not uncommon. What’s at stake is not the asking price, but the net amount of cash you receive from the sale. Ask your agent to prepare a net sheet showing the offer price and subtract the costs you will be responsible for from the offer price.
As a seller you will be responsible for the cost of preparing the deed, transfer tax, the proration of taxes, brokerage fee, home warranty, overnight payoff fee, and a few other miscellaneous fees. You may also be asked to help the buyer with their closing costs which could be a set amount or a percentage of the sales price. Usually when the seller is asked to contribute to the buyer’s closing costs, the buyer doesn’t expect the seller absorbed the entire amount. In this case the purchase price is usually over the asking price.
If the seller did not have a whole house and termite inspection completed when they first listed their property and completed the necessary repairs up front, there may be additional costs for habitability repairs that will also need to be deducted from the net. It’s always a good idea to have the inspections completed when you first list your home. This way if any habitability items need repaired, you’ll have time to get three estimates and choose the best one. If you wait until the buyer does inspections and finds habitability repairs, you’ll have to pay what ever the contractor will want to charge you who can come and repair it quickly. Usually the contractor who will be able to come today and complete the repair, isn’t going to be the cheapest! If there are habitability items that need repaired, they will be found. It’s cheaper to do the repairs up front instead of waiting.
If the whole house inspection and termite inspections have been completed and copies are furnished to the buyer, usually the buyer does not require more inspections. So a lower offer without more inspections could actually net you more than a higher offer with inspections if habitability repairs are found. Ask your agent to figure the net proceeds for you so you can make an informed decision.
Contact the Kathy Henne Team Re/MAX by calling 937-778-3961
