Before Accepting An Offer From A Buyer

As much as you would like to sell your home to an interested buyer quickly, it sometimes helps to take a little additional time to clarify certain things prior to making a purchase. In this regard, here are five things a seller should do before accepting an offer from a buyer:

Ask the potential buyer how he/she intends to pay for the home. If the potential buyer states the sale will be made in cash, this could prove to be a very good offer since cash sales are the quickest and easiest to process. Granted, it also becomes necessary to ensure the person is legitimately being honest since some of the less than sincere potential buyers might make claims of paying cash and then balk at the last minute.

In a similar vein, it also does not hurt to ask if the potential buyer has a preapproved mortgage. If so, then you can feel confident that you will be receiving payment since the purchasing of the home has already been secured by a lending institution. As much as we wish otherwise, there are people who make purchasing inquiries without any real intention to buy. Those with pre-approved mortgages generally would not fall into this category.

It is helpful to know whether or not the buyer is going to actually occupy the home or whether he/she will be renting it out. Some may wonder why learning such information is important to the actual sale. After all, cannot the new owner do what he or she wishes? Yes, this is true; however, depending upon the province you live in there may be excess rules and regulations that may alter the terms and conditions of the sale. And, of course, the seller must be in compliance with these rules in order for the sale to go through.

Decide on whether or not you wish to entertain contingencies in the sales contract. Contingencies essentially refer to various additional requirements for the contract to be executed. For some, contingencies can turn out to be disastrous since they can nullify the contract. That is why a clear understanding of all contingency related clauses is critical before moving forward.

Look over all terms and conditions of the sale in the residential purchase agreement. In some instances, the buyer may attempt to put forth unusual terms and conditions in the contract. This could include transferring fees to the seller that would normally be paid by the buyer. Yes, this does happen with quite frequency to those that do not read their contracts properly from top to bottom. As such, making proper reviews of all negotiated sales agreements remains highly recommended.

There are other things you could ask prior to making a sale but these five points certainly cover a lot of ground. Ultimately, you will want your sale to go as smoothly as possible. Following these five steps will assure such problem-free transactions.

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