It’s Time to Make an Offer

· Put yourself in the sellers shoes and imagine how they will react to everything you’re about to put in your offer.

· Oral promises are not legally enforceable when it comes to the sale of real estate. Please be sure you have communicated everything you want in the offer to your agent.

· Price

Have your REALTOR do a comparative market analysis for you. That will show you the fair market value of the property. The following factors could affect your offer price:

▫ Property condition

▫ New home improvements

▫ Market conditions (that old supply and demand again)

▫ Seller’s motivation

▫ Seller concessions – do you want them to give you a carpet allowance or are you asking them to help you with closing costs? If you are – expect to pay a little more!

· Earnest Money

You will be putting up some money to show the seller you are sincere about purchasing his home. Your agent can give you guidelines for how much this should be.

· Financing Contingency

You will probably need to get a mortgage. Even if you have been preapproved the lender will still need time to have the appraisal done, order title, etc. Your agent can advise you as to how much time you need.

· Home Inspection

Don’t skip this, whether it’s because you think you can check out the house yourself or you want to save the money a professional inspector charges – it’s money well spent in the long run. But remember, no home is perfect and small maintenance-type things found by the home inspector should not be part of any renegotiations with the seller. And don’t skip your final walk-through just because you had a home inspection.

· Disclosures

Make sure you received all the proper seller disclosures. Federal law requires the seller give you a lead based paint disclosure if the property was built prior to 1978 and most states or local areas require the seller to disclose any material defects of which they have knowledge. Illinois law mandates the seller disclose any Radon Hazard and complete the Residential Real Property Disclosure Report. Look over these documents carefully – your recourse once you signed them is limited by the laws that govern them.

· Multiple Offers

It doesn’t have to be a ‘hot’ market for a seller to have the luxury of choosing between multiple offers on their property. If you find yourself in a multiple offer situation don’t panic and don’t withdraw your offer – you may be the highest bidder and won’t even know it if you pull out. Go through at least one round of negotiations before you decide to withdraw. Have a price in your mind of where you want to go and stay in the game until that price has been reached. Too many buyers lose the property by pulling out too soon.