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Pros and Cons of Verbal Real Estate Negotiations
~ERA Justin Realty ~Fara Espandi Overview~
Negotiating a home purchase can be an arduous process. Drafting the purchase offer can take hours depending on the situation. After all that, the seller may or may not find it acceptable, and modifications may be necessary. Buyers usually focus on price when they think of striking a deal with the seller. But the purchase offer encompasses all the terms and conditions that will apply if the sale goes forward. Sellers often don’t accept the buyer’s first offer in its entirety. For instance, the seller might like the buyer’s price, but not the date he wants to close the sale. Or, the buyer could ask for possession of the property when the deal closes, and the sellers might need to rent back for a while, a rarity but a possibility. It’s common for buyers and sellers to engage in several rounds of counter offering back and forth before they arrive at a contract that’s mutually acceptable. This can take days. One way to short-cut the process is through verbal negotiations and then including those terms within the contract document.
ERA Justin Realtor agent Fara Espandi said, “For example, sellers of a property received several offers. Two of the offers were close to what they were hoping for. Rather than countering back and forth, they asked their listing agent to talk to the real estate agents who represented the buyers who made the two best offers. The sellers wanted to know if either or both of the buyers would be willing to pay more in order to wrap up the deal. The sellers reached a verbal agreement with one of the buyers, which was promptly solidified in writing. When house hunting, It’s critical to keep in mind that verbal agreements to sell real estate aren’t binding. To be legally enforceable, a contract to buy real estate must be agreed to in writing by both buyer and seller. One prospective buyer learned this lesson the hard way. He preferred to negotiate verbally with the seller for the purchase of the property. After several days of verbal negotiations, the buyer and seller reached a verbal agreement on price. The details that make up the entire purchase agreement hadn’t been discussed. When the buyer finally sat down with an agent to put his offer is writing, other buyers were expressing interest in making offers. One of the other buyers did step forward with a written offer for a higher price that was presented to the seller along with the offer from the buyer who had initially made the verbal offer. The sellers happily accepted the highest offer, which was much better than the offer made by the buyer who preferred to wait to put his offer in writing.”
Espandi continued, “Buyers and sellers often feel that negotiations about issues that are less significant than the price can be carried out with less pressure on a more casual verbal basis. But, until you have a fully ratified written contract, you don’t have a binding agreement. Further, during the attorney review period between buyer and seller, further contracts can be submitted for review and consideration. So, if another offer shows up before you’ve agreed in writing to all the terms of your purchase contract, the sellers may be under no obligation to sell to you. Even if you’re diligent about committing your offer and all counteroffers in writing, both you and the sellers have the right to withdraw a counteroffer before it has been signed by the other party and acceptance has been delivered back to the party that made the counteroffer while the attorney review period is pending.
Like in baseball it’s not over till it’s over, your real estate contract isn’t binding until it’s signed by all parties and out of the attorney review period. Be sure to consult a knowledgeable real estate attorney if you have any questions about a time period when you have a binding contract.
“There is a difference in real estate companies,” continued Espandi. “Presenting consumer information, we believe, is in order to exceed sellers expectations of what ERA Justin Realty is about, and we don’t offer just the basics. In that way, we know that our sellers will hold us in the highest regard. Our sellers have put their thoughts in writing. We have on file for the asking, ‘What people are saying’ our report of over 700 reviews and testimonials from our sellers and buyers. No other area real estate firm can offer that,” she concluded.
All across the nation, a highly sought award that can be achieved in business is the J.D. Power and Associates award. Outstanding business entities are honored and receive it. ERA Real Estate was the recipient of the J. D. Power and Associates Highest Satisfaction for First Time Home Buyers Among Full Service Real Estate Firms Award. For these reasons ERA Justin Realty should be your buying and selling Realtor of choice.
All of the ERA Justin Realty full service real estate consultants can be reached at either of their two Rutherford offices at 118 Jackson Avenue and 57 Park Avenue, by office phone (201) 939-7500, (201) 438-0588 or (201) 438-SOLD. Also view 1000’s of homes at their website at www.ERAJustin.com and www.ERAJustinRealty.com.
