Page 26 - How To Buy A Home In Louisville

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Making An Offer

First of all, remember this: after the offer is negoti- Ask your agent to include those in the offer and
ated and accepted, buyers might sometimes wonder see if the seller accepts it. All items and appliances
if they could have gotten a price lower, and the seller not attached to the wall or cabinets are negotiable.
will always wonder if they could have received more Those that are permanently attached are part of
money for the house. That’s just human nature, and the property. In Kentucky the only items they can’t
all you can really do is look at the facts on the table take are items permanently attached to the walls or
and make the best decision possible with the infor- cabinets. If it doesn’t require a tool to remove it, the
mation at hand. sellers can take it.

When an offer is accepted, it becomes the Sales Con- Making an offer can be one of the most confusing
tract, a legally binding contract to purchase a home. times in the home buying process. One individual
There is no “think about it and cancel later” period, may feel this is her dream house and she offers the
so you should ask your attorney, accountant, and listed price and the seller accepts the offer immedi-
lender all questions before making the offer. At the ately. Another may think the listed price is inflated
time you make an offer you will also make a Good based on the homes that sold in the area and will
Faith deposit. The check is deposited immediately offer less than the listing price.
after the offer is accepted. If you cancel the contract
because of inspection results, or if you can’t sell your Part of a Realtor’s® job is to help you make a fair of-
other house, you will usually get your money back. fer. Your agent knows how to write a good offer, will
Otherwise, it is held until closing and applied to your know when an offer is too low, and will know when a
down payment or closing costs, and your lender will contract won’t work. However, your agent cannot
let you know if you get it back directly or if it goes to make you offer anything you don’t want to, and the
your down payment. choice of what to offer is your right.

The price that a house is on the market for is called To help you decide what to offer, your agent will cre-
the listing price. It means that this is the price that ate a comparative market analysis (CMA) for any
the seller is asking the buyer to pay for the house. home you would like to buy.
Sometimes this is non-negotiable. Sometimes the
seller may be motivated to move by their personal A CMA compares the house that is for sale with oth-
situation and be willing to sell the house to you for ers in the same area with similar characteristics that
less than the listing price. Examples of these situa- have sold in the last six months to a year. For exam-
tions will be explained on the following pages of this ple, if the 3-bedroom 2-bath house you love is listed
buyer guide. at $200,000 and a 3 bedroom 2 bath house down the
street in the same condition with similar square foot-
When you make your offer, you can make many stip- age sold for $170,000 last month, we know that the
ulations. For example, if you want the seller to leave seller is asking too much, and you can make your
the microwave and curtains, no problem! offer accordingly.

The River Valley Realty Group - How to Buy a Home in Louisville, Kentucky 24