How to negotiate when buying a home: don’t expect to get a free discount

Don’t just focus on the discount

When buying a property, it is important to know how to contact the seller. Success in negotiations may cost the buyer a discount or other added value. Andželika Keršytė, Sales Manager of the real estate company Citus, talks about negotiating with a home seller in a virtual conference of the Būsto Fair organized by the Lithuanian Real Estate Development Association.

According to A. Keršytė, buyer communication with home sellers is not a cat and mouse game. It ensures that the buyer’s objective cannot be to obtain a discount on the home at any cost, since such negotiations are generally not successful.

“Everyone who buys a home wants to buy it at the best price. But this is only part of the home buying process and it is probably relevant to everyone how a homebuyer should behave. Therefore, today it is possible to tell him the buyer the main steps and explain what is a successful transaction and what is a good position when negotiating with a home seller, “says the rapporteur.

She goes on to say that a successful deal does not necessarily mean that the buyer has managed to negotiate a good price. According to her, the negotiations should not focus solely on the price of the house of interest.

“Today, the market is very large, an infinite number of project developers are developing and the choice is very large, so we must understand what we should pay attention to. First, we must answer for ourselves what we are looking for, what our needs are. It is natural for a house to be bought once or several times in a lifetime, and there is no possibility to manage complete information about what is convenient and what the buyer would like, “says A. Keršytė.

The specialist says that when choosing a real estate object, people usually notice its color and location, but rarely think about the added value of the project.

How to negotiate with the seller?

Another very important moment, according to A. Keršytė, is communication with the seller.

“How to contact the seller when choosing a house? First, it is recommended that you visit more than one project, inspect more than one potential home, and spend enough time during the meeting, an hour or a half. And during the first meeting, we should not negotiate the price, the conditions, etc., and we should direct all energy to communication about the project itself. Encourage the vendor to reveal as many aspects of the project as possible to understand if they will like the quality of your life on it, ”explains A. Keršytė.

The presenter goes on to say that when choosing a home, it is important to focus on what will be relevant to the buyer for another five to seven or so. years, how long the buyer plans to live in that house, what this project will look like in 10 years, if the owners will be able to sell it successfully, etc.

Furthermore, according to the rapporteur, the buyer should not avoid disclosing his needs when dealing with the seller. In this case, the seller will be able to answer them and offer the most appropriate option.

Rules for the first and second meeting

According to A. Keršytė, the main objective of the first meeting with the seller is to find out as much information as possible about the project.

“When the first meeting ends, serious tasks await you: what is that task? They are needed to be ready for negotiations. First, you need to find out if the value of the home you plan to buy is real or if it is competitively priced. Then you must be interested in the developer, analyze it, its projects. And to answer the question yourself, can you offer better conditions more favorable to the developer himself, “says the rapporteur.

According to the specialist, information about the developer can be found on his website. What to look for? What projects do you develop, apply discounts and, if so, how much and which ones.

The next step is a second meeting. According to A. Keršytė, it is very important that it happens live.

“The meeting does not have to start with the price and the discount. If we are friendly, collaborative, we are not afraid to say whether we liked the project or not, what you liked, how you would like to live. After congratulating the developer, it is a good time to say what you have prepared. For example, you have selected two projects, evaluate them, you can contribute 30%. And in this case, the discount is very important to you. I encourage you to be open, without fear of emotions . If during the negotiations you realized that a third meeting would be needed, invest in it. Because the goal is for the transaction to be successful, “says A. Keršytė, adding that a less liquid department gives the buyer influence on the talks.

“Each project has a less liquid and less attractive house. For example, if the apartment is on the ground floor, maybe the patio has an irregular shape, maybe there is no balcony, maybe the north side, maybe one of the rooms and a very small window. What I mean is that perhaps the department you saw has a certain disadvantage that you could take advantage of to get a better price, “explains the speaker.