In a seller's market, it goes without saying that buyers will do all they can to keep from ruffling the pride of the seller. For example, most buyers won't come in with lowball offers, because they rightly expect sellers to simply throw such offers out the front door. When so many people want to buy your home, who needs to go through the sometimes arduous process of negotiating a deal everyone can live with?



In a buyer's market, though, sellers very often do need to go through such an arduous process. If, for example, the seller receives what seems to be a "low-ball" offer, it probably isn't time to throw it out with the week's garbage.



Realize first that someone is actually making a binding offer to buy the home, and that some careful analysis and communications could result in a sale. Go back to the comparable sales analysis. Homes in the area could be selling for slightly less than they did when you first visited the data on recent sales. Look, too, at the direction of the market and the possibility that home values will be relatively stagnant for a time.



Then look closely at exactly what you need to accomplish and what you want to accomplish with the proceeds from the sale of the home. And then make a counter-offer, replete with praise for the original offer, that represents what you would want to receive in the sale. The buyer will probably counter your counter-offer, giving you the chance to take your price as low as will work for you−and also probably bringing out the buyers' bottom line. At this point, deals are very often put together, and all parties to the transactions end up satisfied. For more information call Beth at 425-450-5208.