Renegotiating an Agreement

[Martin Zawarski]

I would like to hear success stories from you, where you renegotiated the purchase after you had a firm agreement of sale. In this environment the deal isn't always the final deal and the negotiations are not finished until after the papers are signed, the money exchanged and the keys delivered . And sometimes even after the sale there is some negotiating going on.

I would like to hear some great stories and the circumstance.

[Ned Carey]

@Martin Zawarski I believe when you make an agreement you should intend on honoring it. I don't like the idea of writing an agreement knowing you have no intention of honoring it and plan to renegotiate from the beginning.

However there are always situations where re-negotiation is necessary.

I had a house where we contracted at $159K. We believed the number should really be closer to $120K becuase of lead paint and a boiler that didn't work. The owner insisted the boiler worked and only needed oil. She also said the house had been renovated and there was no lead paint.

I knew differently so my offer said, if we find lead paint or the boiler doesn't work, Seller agrees to lower the price in an amount to cover the cost of those items. Of course the testing showed I was right but the seller refused to renegotiate even though that was written in the contract.

We let the deal drop but two months latter we saw that she was going to lose the house for taxes. This time she took our offer. We figured how much she would net, this was about $20K We offered here $20K net with the right to negotiate with the bank and lien holders. She accepted and we negotiated the bank and tax lien holder down by about 60K

This owner started at about $250K and ultimatley settled on $20K net.