What NOT to Do When Buying or Selling a Home

There are several things that you can do to implode your real estate transaction (whether buying or selling). Here they are:

1. Work with the wrong people. There are many people who have a hand in getting you to the settlement table, including, but not limited to: REALTOR (R), home inspector, mortgage company, title company, township U&O personnel. Some, you have a choice in who you work with, others you have to work with who you get. Any of these people can kill a deal. Make sure that you surround yourself with good people on your end, and hopefully they can compensate for the others you can't control. How do you find them? Get recommendations.

2. Be driven by emotions. Notice that I didn't say "get emotional," because, trust me, you're going to get emotional. I said driven by emotions. Price negotiations, home inspection repairs, differing opinions of what "clean" means - they all will trigger an emotional response. Accept the reaction, take a deep breath, sleep on it if you have the time, look at the big picture and make a reasoned response. Don't sweat the small stuff. Things that seem catastrophic in the heat of the moment usually have workable solutions.

3. Bully during the negotiations. I'm an excellent negotiator. Know why? Because I don't sell the other party. I don't badmouth a Seller's house when presenting the offer, and conversely, I don't tell Buyers how lucky they are to get a house at a specific price. I negotiate the price/inspections/repairs in a straightforward manner without fanning the flames of the other party. It's always counterproductive to do this. Always. I've never had someone take a $10,000 off the price of the house because I told them it was a dump and they were lucky to get an offer in the first place. I have, however, negotiated $10,000 off a price by saying that was the max my Buyer could offer, and we could settle quicker if that helped the Seller any?. This doesn't make you a pushover, and I've stepped up to the plate and said, "No more. It's this or we re-list" but never start negotiations with an opening salvo to the other party.

Now that I've listed what you shouldn't do during a real estate transaction, look for my next post on what you should do to keep your transaction on track...

Oh, and if you want some recommendations on good people to work with, shoot me an email, I'll be happy to offer some...