CHAPTER 10
PREPARATION FOR NEGOTIATION: SCREENING BUYERS Even if your house is currently on the market, you still have a lot of preparation to do to sell your home. When it comes time for negotiation, you really need to get down to business. This part of the sales process is extremely important: negotiating with prospective buyers is the time where you will be weeding out those who aren’t serious so that you can make your final decision on a specific buyer. This is the time when you need to sit down and figure out how serious a buyer is. You will have to ask a ton of questions to determine exactly how serious they are, howmuch you can expect them to pay, and whether or not them purchasing your home will benefit you in the end. PRE-QUALIFYING BUYERS
During this time, negotiations must be made, and asking the following questions will help ensure that you get the information you need to select the proper buyer: Are you currently working with a real estate agent?
If the buyer is working with an agent, this will let you know that the legwork and paperwork of closing the sale can be done for you—or at least some of it can—but also that you might be expected to pay for a commission for said agent. How long have you been looking at homes? If the buyer has just started looking for a home, be ready to move on. This means that they are probably just “window shopping” and
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