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7.1
OFFERING
TO PURCHASE REAL ESTATE - THE BASICS
Introduction
and overview
Once you find
the home you want to buy, the next step is to write an offer – which
is not as easy as it sounds. Your offer is the first step toward
negotiating a sales contract with the seller. Since this is just
the beginning of negotiations, you should put yourself in the seller’s
shoes and imagine his or her reaction to everything you include.
Your goal is to get what you want, and imagining the seller’s reactions
will help you attain that goal.
The offer is
much more complicated than simply coming up with a price and saying,
"This is what I’ll pay." Because of the large dollar amounts involved,
especially in today’s litigious society, both you and the seller
want to build in protections and contingencies to protect your investment
and limit your risk.
In an offer
to purchase real estate, you include not only the price you are
willing to pay, but other details of the purchase as well. This
includes how you intend to finance the home, your down payment,
who pays what closing costs, what inspections are performed, timetables,
whether personal property is included in the purchase, terms of
cancellation, any repairs you want performed, which professional
services will be used, when you get physical possession of the property,
and how to settle disputes should they occur.
It is certainly
more involved than buying a car. And more important.
Buying a home
is a major event for both the buyer and seller. It will affect your
finances more than any other previous purchase or investment. The
seller makes plans based on your offer that affect his finances,
too. However, it is more important than just money. In the half-hour
it takes to write an offer you are making decisions that affect
how you live for the next several years, if not the rest of your
life. The seller is going to review your offer carefully, because
it also affects how he or she lives the rest of their life.
That sounds
dramatic. It sounds like a cliché. Every real estate book or article
you read says the same thing.
They all say
it because it is true.
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