A Near Perfect FSBO Experience (PART 2 of 3)

This is a followup to my first post on "The Near Perfect FSBO Experience (Part 1)". 

PART 2 

WILL SHE MAKE AN OFFER?

We closed out PART 1 of this story when one of my Open House guest left my house (or so I thought) and then just a few minutes later came walking back up to my front door with a polite “knock knock” motion saying … 

“Can I talk to you for a minute please?”   

So we'll pick up the story right there: 

“Sure!" I said "Come on in!" 

I handed another couple I was talking to one of my flyers and immediately turned my attention back to my previous guest as she walked around them to come inside.

She said “I’m not real sure how to do this but I’d like to make you an offer on your house.”

I said “OH, OKAY! … Come on into the dining room and let’s talk!”

As we sit down, she says “I’ve looked at a lot of houses in the area and I really like yours the best. I think this is the nicest one in the neighborhood. I love the colors, the tile, the location, everything, it’s just beautiful … I want to make an offer but I don’t know how to do that.”

I said “The easiest way to do it is for you and me to talk about it and if we can agree on price and terms, we’ll have a local attorney write up the contract for us.”

She said “Alright that sounds fair.” 

So I ask “What was the price you had in mind?” 

She said “I’d like to buy it but I would like to offer you $5,000 less than your asking price.”

THE NEGOTIATION

I hesitated for a moment, then said ...

“Well, I don’t know. I looked at all the other houses available in the area and you were right when you said this is the nicest one. And I think my price is at the low end of what I could be asking (it was the 2nd highest asking price in the neighborhood). BUT … we ARE saving a little because we don’t have to pay a real estate agent … and I’ll have to check with my wife, because $5,000 is a lot of money … but if you agree to pay your own closing cost, meaning you pay yours and I’ll pay mine … and you agree you’ll buy the house “as is” so I don’t have to worry about some over eager house inspector coming in from a mortgage company, trying to prove his worth by saying I need to replace something when I know everything in the house is in good working order … then yes, if my wife agrees to it … and I’ll go talk to her right now … I’ll give you the $5,000 discount.”

She said “That all sounds fair to me. I appreciate that. But I would ask you for one thing, two things actually” and she smiled as she said “the washer and dryer, will you include the washer and dryer in that price?”

My response … “Well, that definitely was not part of our plans because those are brand new. We just bought them two months ago. And my wife loves them! I don’t want to say yes to that without asking my wife … let me go see if I can bring her in here (she was showing the house to someone else at the time) … just between you and me, I’m not going to say anything about the washer and dryer until AFTER we find out if she’s okay with the $5,000 drop in price. If she’s okay with THAT, then we’ll ask her about the washer and dryer” I said with a smile.

She smiled and said “That sounds like a good plan”.

A couple minutes later, I was back at the table with my wife next to me. I did a quick introduction and then explained to my wife “if it’s alright with you, here’s what we were talking about doing. We’ll drop the price by $5,000 and yes, I know that’s a lot … but remember, we don’t have to pay a real estate agent … and Sarah (our buyer) said she’ll pay her own closing cost and buy the house “as is” … that way we only have to cover our own closing fees PLUS we don’t have to worry about a rookie house inspector from a mortgage company”.

My wife … “Alright, I guess we could do that. But when would be doing the closing? Have you talked about that yet?”

Good question. Sarah … “I don’t know. How long does it usually take to do everything?”

Having been through a few already with some private investors I had worked with in the past, I answered “as long as the mortgage company gets everything they need from you in terms of documents, it can usually be done in 3 to 4 weeks”.

She said “If we could have it done in 3 weeks that would work out really good for me!”

At that point, everyone was all smiles.

The timing was right so I reached over to hold my wife’s hand and said “One more thing … I told Sarah the washer and dryer are staying”. As expected, she slowly turned in my direction, tilted her head slightly to the left, and with raised eyebrows and eyes as big as golf balls gave me that “OH … NO … YOU … DIT ENT!” look.

Yeah, it was a bit tense for a second or two. Then she took a deep breath and said “That’s fine … as long as you know you’re doing your own laundry from now on.”

Okay, back to all smiles again :) .