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Selling a Home
 Reviewing and Negotiating a Contract
When a buyer decides to try to purchase your home the agent will normally guide a buyer to put the offer in writing. Often this is in the form of a contract to purchase. With your agent the significance of each part of the contract will be explained. You then have the option to respond in one of three ways:
- Accept the offer
- Make a counter offer
- Reject the offer
It is usually advisable to counter a non acceptable offer. Your counter offer reflects the price and terms that you would accept. Once your counter offer has been delivered to the buyer, the buyer has the same three options that you just had. You’ve begun to negotiate. A good agent usually provides you with the best outcome from that buyer. But not all negotiations have a successful outcome.
The following are items that you will consider when negotiating with the buyer
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Price
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The Deposit
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Has the buyer been pre-approved for finance?
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The finance approval date
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The time required for building and pest inspections
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The settlement date
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Any tenancies included or is it to be vacant possession at settlement
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Personal items not included (or included) in the sale
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Special Clauses
Special clauses can be a problem and their wordings may be a significant stumbling block. The buyer may wish to purchase “subject to the sale of another property” or “subject to a contemporaneous settlement” elsewhere and so on. Often it is best to get legal advice before signing a contract with significantly important special conditions. This slows up the negotiation process and may frustrate your agent but caution here is still the wisest approach.
Once you have reached agreements the contracts are presented to the respective solicitors and the process from here on till settlement is handled by them. The agent may still remain a point of contact for you but usually they take no active part from the stage at which a signed contract is agreed upon by both parties. |
