Buying A Home: How To Determine Offer Price

You may have found the home of your dreams, but you know that you now have to make an offer. You see what the asking price is, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a realistic number. In order to submit your offer, you need to come up with a number. How do you do that? Try the simple steps below!

In order to get a realistic idea of the price of the home, look at other homes for sale in the area. Make sure that the homes you are looking at are comparable to the one you're making an offer on. This should help you narrow down your price range.

Comparable sales are how you determine the base number of your offer. These are recent sales of homes in your area that have sold. You want to be able to compare the home you are purchasing to ones that are close in size, number of bedrooms, lot size, bathroom numbers, construction style and garage numbers.

If you have employed the help of a real estate agent, he or she will have no trouble looking up this type of information. This is even easier if your home is a model home and there are several of the same style for sale.

Furthermore, it is important that number you come up with is realistic in relation to the condition of the home. Are there updates that are needed to be completed? Are there serious renovations that you have to do? If so, take these things into account, because they can quickly depreciate the asking price of the home. Calculate how much you have to spend on renovations and updates to see how much you have to deduct at least from the asking price.

Is the seller including anything with the home? If so, what is it really worth? In some cases, sellers will provide the option of purchasing the home fully furnished or with appliances. These are usually items that they charge extra for, but you could purchase yourself much cheaper.

Why is the seller selling the home? In some cases, the circumstances of the seller impact their decision whether or not to accept your offer. You want to get a good deal, which is understandable, but depending on the seller, it may not be realistic. For example, if the seller wants to sell the home quickly, you have a better chance of haggling the price.

Keep in mind, some sellers are willing to wait out the perfect offer that comes close to their number. If the property is highly desirable, you may even have to pay over the asking price to beat the competition. The actual price of the property is never set in stone, and you need to come up with a "fair" price to submit in your offer using the information available to you.

Making your first offer can be nerve wracking and it can really give you insomnia. However, once you get over the initial shock of your first largest investment, you will find that making the offer wasn't as hard as you thought it would be. Use everything you have just learned for success!