How I made my "lowball" offer just a little more palatable
Had an agent call me back today on a fixer house I'd inquired about a while back. It had been listed since early November and not sold. So they dropped the price from $590k to $550k. Still high by my guesstimate, but even with the recent price drop, the agent was open to receiving an offer below list. When I asked “𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩?”, she mentioned having a flexible move-out date would be helpful. So I'm adding the following additional provision to my offer: “Seller Possession After Closing: Buyer is open to discussing a short-term post-closing occupancy, lease-back, or escrow hold-back arrangement for Seller’s benefit, subject to Buyer’s written approval and the execution of a separate written agreement addressing term, rent (if any), security deposit or hold-back, insurance, and liability. No post-closing possession is granted unless and until such separate agreement is fully executed.” 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗹𝘆, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸. Sometimes solving a seller's dilemma with terms can help cinch a deal at the right price.