These days you see endless articles on all the tips and tricks for sellers to get their home sold and what they need to do to appeal to more buyers.  Portland home buyers also need to take heed and be aware of what not to do when trying to buy a house.

I can’t tell you how often I hear buyers comment that it’s a buyer market and therefore a seller should take whatever it is they dish out. Remember what they say about assuming! Not all Portland sellers are under the gun to sell. Most of the buyers I work with find themselves (much to their own shock) in a multiple offer situation. Yes, in this market! So avoiding seller turnoffs can create a transactional environment of cooperation that, in turn, can empower you to score a better price, get extra items you want thrown into the deal, and even negotiate more flexibility around your escrow and move-in timelines – all perks that can make your life easier and your budget go further.

Here’s a few of the most common buyer-perpetuated seller turnoffs, with tips for sellers on how to keep an emotional (and economic) even keel, even if your home’s buyer makes some of these waves:

1. Trash-talking. Trash-talkers are the home buyers who think they’re going to negotiate the list price down by slamming the house, telling the sellers how little it is really worth, how the house across the street sold for nothing, why the school on the corner should make them desperate to give the place away, etc. This strategy never works; in fact, when you attack a seller and their home, you only cause them to be defensive, and think up all the reasons that (a) their home is not what you say it is, and (b) they shouldn’t sell their home to you!

Buyers: save your commentary for your agent; if you do encounter the seller in person keep your conversation respectful and avoid critiquing the house or the list price.
Sellers: also save your commentary for your agent and don’t ask your agent to relay feelings, let the paperwork do the talking.

2. Being unqualified for mortgage financing. When a Portland seller signs a buyer’s offer, most often the seller agrees to effectively pull the home off the market, forgoing other buyers who might be interested. The only thing worse than getting no offers on your home is getting an offer, getting into contract, then having the whole thing fall apart when the buyer’s loan falls through – especially if that could have been predicted or avoided up front.

Sellers: Work with your agent to vet your home’s buyers’ qualifications, including their loan approval, down payment and earnest money deposit – before you sign a contract. It’s not overkill for your agent to call the buyers’ mortgage pro before you sign the contract and get a level of comfort for how robust their qualifications are.
Buyers: Get pre-approved. Seriously! And do this before you begin looking at houses! Also between the time you get loan pre-approval and the time you get the keys to your new home, do not buy a car, quit your job, deposit lottery winnings or do any other financial rearranging unless it’s “ok’d” by your mortgage broker and real estate agent.

3. Making unjustified lowball offers. No one likes to feel like they are being taken advantage of. And sellers generally know the ballpark amount that their home is worth, as well as what they need to sell it for to get their mortgage paid off. Many first time buyers are always surprised to learn that a seller does not have to counter your offer. They can simply reject it and ignore you completely. Throwing uber-lowball offers out at sellers hoping one will stick is not generally a successful strategy, especially if you really want a given property.

Sellers: Don’t get overly emotional about receiving a lowball offer; counter at the price you and your agent decide makes sense based on the total circumstances, including your motivation level, recent comps and the interest/activity level your listing is receiving.
Buyers: Work through the similar, nearby homes that have recently sold (comparables) before you make an offer to factor the home’s fair market value into your offer price – also factor in how much you want the place, too. Don’t be amazed if you make an offer far below asking, and don’t get a response.

4. Renegotiating mid-stream. Sellers plan their finances, moves and – to some extent – their lives around the purchase price a buyer agrees to pay for their home. If you get into contract to buy a home in Portland, find out during inspections that costly repairs need to be made, then propose a lower sale price, repair credit or even actual repairs to the seller, that’s sensible and fair. But if you were aware that the property needed a lot of work before you made an offer on it, then you come back asking for beaucoup bucks’ worth of credit or price reductions midstream, expect the seller to cry foul.

Sellers: avoid mid-stream price renegotiations by knowing what repairs need to be done before listing. Just because you didn’t mind that old rattling tin can of furnace or leaking water heater, doesn’t mean a buyer should also just put up with it when they buy the home.
Buyers: try to avoid renegotiating the entire deal unless you get some major surprises at your inspections or inflating small repairs to try to justify a major price cut.

5. Misleading or setting the seller up. Remember when I talked about buyer turn-offs? Being misled by listing photos or very fluffy property descriptions was high on the list. The same goes for sellers. Offering way over asking with the plan to hammer the seller for a reduction when the house doesn’t appraise at the purchase price? Just because you technically can do something, doesn’t mean you ethically should.

Sellers: If you get multiple offers and are tempted to take a sky-high one or one that claims to be all cash, consider requesting proof that the buyer has sufficient funds to make up the difference between what you think the home will appraise for and the actual sale price, and statements showing the cash truly exists.
Buyers: Don’t be lame. I’m not saying you have to tell the seller exactly what your top dollar is, but making offers with terms designed to intentionally mislead is really, really bad form – and can result in losing the home entirely if and when your bluff gets called.

by Betsy Ballantyne
betsy@betsyballantyne.com