Expert: Dick Dennis - 10/18/2011

Question
am going to buy a spec home from a builder and I don't plan to use a realtor.
They are offering 3% commission plus a 1% realtor bonus.
List price of the home is $226,400.
Assuming there WAS a realtor involved after commission and bonus (i.e.-4%) it brings the price down to $217,300. There should still be some wiggle room left, right? What would be reasonable?
The exact same floor plan around the corner is listed at $6k more because of a heavily treed lot.
The Market Manager said he could knock that off and bring it down to the same price of $226,400.
With that rule of thumb, would it be safe to assume that he should be able to take off another $5k on the home I'm interested in?
$226,400 list
$217,300 (-4%)
$212,300 (-$5K)
Hope my thoughts and math make sense.
James

Answer
Disregard any of that commission junk, James. It is only a device to help sell the property, I don't care how many trees the other house has.

You are negotiating. They want to sell and you want to buy. Period. It's a matter of finding out what the seller wants for the property. Now you decide how much you are willing to pay. It boils down to this: WHO WANTS IT WORSE? Does the seller want to sell worse than you want to buy? You will not find out until you make your offer.

If you happen to know that other people want to buy that house and in fact they have been looking at the house and have shown some interest, then you will have to go a little higher with your offer. If you have NOT seen anyone express any interest, you can be assured that your offer to buy at a lower price will be seriously considered and maybe even accepted.

Also, you need to go to a lender somewhere who will give you a pre-qualification LETTER telling the seller that you are a GOOD buyer. The seller will not want to lose you if your credit is good. Therefore your offer has a much better chance of being accepted. In this case, the seller will be more interested selling to you than you are anxious to buy.

Keep this in mind for the rest of your life: "He who wants it most . . . loses." I wish  you well.

Dick Dennis
dixiedee13@aol.com