Working With the Right Buyer
By Paul Esajian on April 28, 2014
Anytime you are trying to sell a property that you have rehabbed, it is important that you sell to the right buyer. Wasting time only to find out that the seller is not really approved or there is a problem with their application can set you back months. It is important that you spend the extra time at the beginning of the process to make sure they are approved and really want to move forward. This means going over the fine print as far as dates, prices and everything else associated with the deal is concerned.
If you have an interested buyer, the first thing you should do is refer them to a mortgage broker or lender you have a relationship with. You can waste time discussing prices and dates, but if they are not approved it may all be for naught. Mortgage guidelines and policies are constantly changing. What you thought would work may not in the current market. Leave this aspect of the deal to a professional and wait for their response. Ideally, a good broker can inform you of any potential issues regarding income, employment or asset seasoning. The decision will be left at the hands of a bank underwriter, but a good broker can give you a percentage of how strongly they feel about the application.
From there you are left to negotiate and gauge the strength of the deal. As a seller, you always want the best deal. However, the best deal may not always mean the highest price. If you can get in and out of the property with a solid offer from a buyer you feel confident in, you should take it. The longer you have to hold onto your property, the more it is costing you every day. This does not mean you have to take the first decent offer that comes your way, but the longer you wait the more it is costing you and the less likely you will be to find the right buyer at the right price.
If you are selling yourself, you have to factor in the time and expense to do so. Every time someone is interested you have to make yourself available and go to the property. If you are happy with the offer that comes in whether it is from a cash buyer or a strong buyer with lender financing you should consider pouncing on it. Despite what you may have heard about a spring selling rush we are still very much in a buyer’s market. If you did quality work with your property you can assume there will be demand, but that is certainly not a guarantee. Consider the strength of every offer that comes in and if one does that is strong, but not as high as you would have liked this still may be the best option. Another offer may come in next week or it may be several weeks. If an offer does come in down the road will it be for as much or as strong as the offer you are looking at today?
Reviewing every offer can be a very stressful and nerve wracking time for a seller. The bottom line is that if you are comfortable with the amount and you are confident the deal will actually close that should outweigh the risks of waiting.