If you have found a property you want to buy, you will need to make an offer.
This will involve setting a price you wish to pay for the property.
This can be tricky, since agents will often be reluctant to name a price first, wanting to maintain a good position for negotiating.
There are many things that you can do, however, to ensure that you make the right offer on a property: 1) Try to find out why the seller wants to sell the property.
This is generally easier to do if you are buying directly from the seller.
If the seller is interested mainly in getting the best maximum price for the property, you know that your offer will have to be near the actual value of the property.
If the seller needs cash fast, however, due to financial difficulty, he or she may be willing to accept a lower offer in exchange for a faster sale.
If you cannot find out why the seller wants to sell, try to find out how much the seller paid for the property and how much mortgage is on the home.
This can help you determine how motivated the seller is to sell.
2) Find out about the market.
How much do other, similar homes in the area sell for and how long do they stay on the market? Do homes on the market tend to sit for a while and fall in price? If so, you might be able to quote a lower price and still make an attractive offer, since the seller may be very motivated.
3) Get a copy of a trend report covering the last six months.
You can generally request this report from the real estate agent.
The report tells you how much homes were listed for and how much they sold for.
From the report, you can figure out by what percentage homes sold over or under list price and you can develop a nice offer based on this information.