You’ve found the Property that you want, so how can you get a good deal.

Here are a few tips from RP Data on how to take a strong negotiating position when purchasing a property.

1.Back up your offers with evidence

• Offer the vendor clear and straightforward reasoning for the terms of your offers.
• If the property requires renovation or repair work, if other similar local properties are selling for less, or if a valuation gives you different figures, you should have fair grounds to ask for a discount of price.
• Wherever possible, specific evidence beats general – a broad article on national property prices can’t beat a specific report analysing the local market.

2. Don’t just negotiate the price

• The settlement period, deposit and other aspects of the selling process don’t have to be conducted on the vendor’s terms.
• You can try to balance concessions on these factors with discounts on the property's price, and vice versa.

3. Consider the vendor’s position

See if you can find out why the vendor is selling.

• Are they upgrading to a bigger home,
• disposing of a deceased estate,
• moving interstate, or
• selling off their empty nest?

Understanding the motivation of the vendor can help you determine the best incentives you can offer them.

4. Offer a quick sale

If your finances are secure, you can offer to take a property off a vendor’s hands right now for a discounted price, rather than the vendor having to wait longer for someone willing to pay a higher price, leaving time for all kinds of things to potentially go wrong.

5. Keep everything in writing

Not only will this make it much easier to back up your negotiating positions, keeping everything in writing (including counter-offers from the vendor) helps keep everything crystal clear to the benefit of all parties. This goes a long way toward preventing any misunderstandings that could cause trouble down the track.

6. Be reasonable

• Property is an asset more likely to have emotional attachment involved than many others, especially when buying or selling a home.
• Consider your emotions about a property as well as those of the vendor during negotiations, but don’t let these feelings take control.
• Both parties always have the option of walking away if an agreement can’t be reached, and you shouldn’t have to offer more than you’re comfortable with to secure a deal.

Conclusion

These tips offer just a few ways to help manage the purchase of property. There are shelves of books written on the topics of developing communication skills and becoming a winning negotiator.

Overall, keep your negotiations civil and professional, making sure that you can always justify your position and arguments, and you’ll be one step closer to negotiating a mutually beneficial deal.