An Offer is More Than the Price

Price isn't the only way to win over the seller. Non-price terms -- like a quick close or an all-cash transaction -- can be appealing for sellers, particularly if they are motivated or your offer price is a lot lower than the asking price. Whatever terms you spell out in your offer, they should mirror as closely as possible the terms the seller prefers without impairing your important legal protections and other common sense needs. A number of non-price terms don’t necessarily impact you much cost-wise. For example, a quick close of escrow or allowing the sellers the option to rent-back may not cost you anything. Other terms, like offering to pay more than your normal share of the closing costs, might cost you a little chunk of change, but could seal a deal that will make you big bucks in the long run. If it doesn’t cost you anything, or costs very little in the grand scheme of things, why not give the sellers what they want if it makes it much more likely that you get what you want?

The favorite non-price term of sellers is offering to accept the property in as-is condition. This could cost you nothing, could run you a modest amount of money to do upgrades you might have done anyway, or might require you to expend a lot of money on repairs over your tenure as homeowner, depending on the facts of the specific situation.