Negotiation Tips for Buyers: Getting the Best Deal

This year, about one-fifth of Canadian real estate markets are expected to favour buyers. Despite this, buying a new home can still feel like a daunting task for first-timers. However, these negotiation tips can help bolster your purchasing power and get the best bang for your buck in today’s market – despite high mortgage costs and rising tax rates.

So, what can you do to ensure you get the best deal? Let’s explore the tools in your arsenal.

Negotiation Tips for Buyers: Getting the Best Deal

Here are some helpful negotiation tips for buyers:

Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage

Before even navigating your local real estate market, getting pre-approved for a mortgage is key. This is the starting place because it gives you an understanding of what price range you can focus on with your real estate agent. Additionally, by having a mortgage pre-approval, you show sellers that you’re a serious buyer, which is a good strategy when the seller is eager to close the deal.

Establish a Realistic Budget

Many first-time homebuyers might be unaware of how much it costs to purchase a home. Some may think it’s as simple as getting a down payment together, getting approved for a mortgage, and purchasing the home. However, establishing a realistic budget can help open your eyes to the long list of other costs associated with buying a property, such as legal expenses, closing costs and other related fees.

Typically, it is best to add as much as seven per cent to your down payment to help cover all of these charges. So, once again, you have a general idea of how much you can spend.

Research Your Local Market

Are you interested in residing in your current community or branching out to other parts of the city or region? Whatever the case may be, it is imperative to research your local housing market either by doing your due diligence or working with a real estate agent. By conducting this research, you can attain a rough ballpark figure of how much you will need to live in St. John’s, Ottawa, Saskatoon, or Vancouver.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll be slightly more knowledgeable about the market than the seller!

Request a Home Inspection

A home inspection is perhaps one of the greatest negotiating tools. By insisting on a professional home inspection in your offer, you can potentially identify issues, costly or benign, with an inspection report that might warrant a lower home price.

Patience is Key

As our parents always told us, patience is a virtue. Indeed, being patient in the home-buying process is essential. You do not want to acquire the first home you see or accept the listing price. Ultimately, you will want to submit a bid, negotiate a lower price if possible, and then work to secure the house. By being a bit more tactical, you can ensure that you have made the right decision and garnered the best deal with terms and conditions that work for you.

Start with a Strong Offer

If you are genuinely interested in the home, you will want to ensure that your first offer is competitive with a pre-approved mortgage and within your budget. This will illustrate to all parties that you are serious about purchasing the home and establish a positive and professional tone for potential negotiations. Plus, it is crucial to note that if you submit an offer over the asking price, you are preventing yourself from haggling for a lower for-sale price. While bidding wars are a whole other ballgame, they are not as prevalent in most Canadian housing markets today as they were a few years ago.

Flexibility on Closing Dates is Key

Flexibility will be a great negotiating tool if you desire a cordial relationship with the seller. Being flexible on things like the closing date can be pretty effective at the bargaining table, whether the seller needs to close quickly or wants to close a couple of months down the road.

Be Personable

Industry professionals have said in the past that you should be personable to the seller. This means that you should introduce yourself by writing an email or (gasp!) a letter and talking about your family. This will create a more empathetic situation between you and the homeowner. In other words, you will present yourself as more than a strange person who bid on the home.

Help Wanted

In the end, you will always want to have professional guidance during this complex and expensive home-buying process. The most notable and noticeable individual at your side will be a real estate agent. He or she can navigate you through the noise and turbulence and do what is best for your pocketbook and your household. Put simply, a real estate agent can strike a delicate balance between intense negotiation and finding the best property for your family.