best deal that they can. It can feel like a competition, and this is where negotiations come into play. For many buyers, this is the toughest and most challenging aspect of purchasing a home, to the point of becoming exhausting. It’s especially difficult to navigate if you don’t have a good buyer’s agent who’s skilled in negotiation tactics. In fact, this is one of the biggest reasons that we recommend hiring a real estate agent — negotiation! But you should also learn negotiation skills yourself. There are strategies and tactics you can learn and use when you are involved in the home-buying process, and we discuss these in greater length in Chapter 22. However, we can offer a summary of this aspect in this step here. You need to plan ahead with your agent on how to make a winning negotiation strategy. For example, once you find the home that meets your needs and falls within your price range, and you intend to make an offer, you should review comparable sales in the area and compare these comps with the prospective house, which will aid in validating the asking price. Be sure to research and look at a handful or more of properties similar to the one on which you have your eyes set. This way, you can take the average price of all the applicable comparable homes and mention it in your offer. I also recommend that you visit the homes you’re using as comps before deciding on a price for your offer. The conditions of these properties must be taken into consideration. For example, if your prospective home — the target home — has additional features that the comps don’t have, then you need to factor that in for the price quote. It doesn’t need to be a “secret” that you did some research on comparable homes. In fact, you should mention the comps during the negotiation. Why? It will give the seller and the listing agent the impression that you know your stuff. You did your due diligence by doing your homework ahead of time (research), and this will only strengthen your bargaining position. Hiding the
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