Buying a New Home - How to Get the Best Price

If you are a potential house buyer and you have narrowed it down to which one is right for you, then the next step is considering what to offer the owner of the house for the purchase. Chances are you knew the property was in your budget. Now it is time to try and get the house for the best possible price. It is a major step to decide what to offer. You want to offer to buy at the lower end of the scale that the owner is willing to accept. When you make your offer you could offend the sellers or you could secure the property and in the process save thousands when buying the house.

So how does a buyer determine what to offer on the property? There are of course many factors but one often overlooked that could give you a very good insight to the "right price" is knowing as much as you can about the seller. For those that are in the market it seems to be an obvious condition on which to base the offer, but since homeowners aren’t purchasing homes frequently it is a learning experience.

Some of the things you want to know about the house’s current owner are:

How long has the owner lived in the property?

How long has the property been on the market?

How many agents have the listing?

Has there been an offer on the house that fell through?

Has the seller found a new house yet?

Once these questions have entered into the equation of deciding a price offer, it is easy to see why you would want to know these things about the owner selling the home. If they have not had the house on the market for long they may be willing to wait out for some time to get an offer very close to their asking price. If you want the property you are going to have to be willing to offer very close to their asking price. While on the other hand, if the seller has found another property they want to move to, the house has been on the market for a long time, or they have had previous offers fall through, then they may be more willing to take a lower price and you save thousands off the asking price.

Of course your own situation will have an impact on what you offer too. Do you need to move into a home quickly? Are you a first time buyer that does not have a home to sell? If you do have a home to sell, is it already on the market? Is selling your home a factor in your making a purchase? These factors on your end of the deal will also have an impact on what your offer should be to the seller. If you are a first time buyer then you would be able to be more flexible on a move in date and that could be attractive to the buyer and win you a lower offer. If you need to move quickly then you will need to offer more to get the property you want now.

There are factors to consider that involve the buyer and there are definitely factors to consider that involve the seller. Finding out more about the area and what comparable houses in the area have sold for recently will help give you a clearer insight as to where your offer needs to lie. Also it will help to know how well houses are selling in the area. The more demand for homes in the area will either move you up or down on your scale of a possible offer. Gather all the information you can and make a sound offer based on factors that concern the property, the area, the seller’s situation and your own. If you do, then your offer will be one that could very well save you thousands on the purchase price.