Negotiating Tip for Home Buyers in Sacramento

What a difference one number makes.

Everybody knows this negotiating tip for home buyers in Sacramento but many seem to encounter a temporary lapse of judgment when they are knee deep in the thick of things. It’s exciting to buy a home, to write an offer and to hope the seller takes it. I am seeing many home buyers so excited that they fall into the trap of thinking they need to try to get a deal when buying. To them, a “deal” is if they can pay less than list price, as though they are negotiating to buy an antique dining room table from a little old lady at an estate sale.

The problem with this kind of thinking is we are in the middle of one of the lowest inventory markets in recent history in Sacramento. There are very few homes on the market for sale. In Sacramento County alone, we have 1,841 homes for sale, and that includes condos. In comparison, in 2005 we had over 10,000. Many buyers. Very few homes. Seller’s market.

On top of this, say a home has been on the market for a few days. There is most likely no better negotiating tip for home buyers than to offer list price or better. If you offer less, you are not the only buyer, even though you might think you are. There is always another buyer lurking around the corner in this market, and that buyer will offer list price or better.

Think of it this way, 10 years from now, when you are still living in your perfect home that you bought because you listened to your buyer’s agent and offered the seller’s asking price, will you care that you paid what the home was worth? Most likely it won’t even cross your mind.

Further, if you give the seller an opportunity to counter your offer, and that listing agent is, say, Elizabeth Weintraub, well, I’m likely to scour that offer with a magnifying glass to figure out what other items the seller might want to counter. For example, if you ask for the title company and the seller is paying for it, you can bet that will probably generate a counter offer, just all by itself. Don’t sabotage the offer or take away the best negotiating tip for home buyers in Sacramento by showing how stubborn you can be.