Always Selling Real Estate for a "Real Deal"

Roughly 3 or 4 months ago I was going through my typical Fall Sunday routine. I was watching football, yelling at the television hoping my fantasy football team would pull out a win for the week.Then a lead came into my database. I give the gentleman a call and start to talk to him about his real estate search. He was searching in Howard County, specifically in Ellicott City. Ellicott City is one of my favorite parts of Howard County. The homes are beautiful and the area is very historic. While talking Steve on the phone we arranged a time to go look at a specific property that he inquired about. I quickly went to the home in Ellicott City to meet him and his wife Min. As I’m showing them the home, I’m getting to know and study exactly what they are looking for in a home. One thing Steve was very concerned about was getting a good deal and not over-paying for their first and most important investment as a family, their home. After we looked at the initial home Steve inquired about, we arranged times to go look at other homes. We went out a few days looking at over 20 properties and found a house that they were ready to put an offer on. Before we put the offer in, I looked over the disclosures and we found out that this home in Ellicott City fell in a flood zone and that purchasing this home would require a special insurance that cost a fortune. Steve and Min decided to not place an offer. 

We went back on our Real Estate hunt! One day Steve and Min were looking online at homes and they saw a beautiful home near downtown Ellicott City came on the market and they wanted to go see it right away. I took them out to see the house. When we got to the house there were four other agents and their clients present to go look at this beautiful home. We go through the house and I could tell instantly that this was the right home for them. It was probably the best home that we looked at during our entire search. 

Steve and Min decided that they wanted to put an offer in on this house. Anyone familiar with the real estate market in Ellicott City knows that there is a very high demand for homes in this area. With the high demand the homes are selling fast and for top dollar.  I put everything together and submit the offer. I knew that we would have to submit a very competitive offer to get this house and it is listed by the top agent in the state, literally! At the same time I knew that Steve and Min didn’t want to pay top dollar for the house. 

Before we placed an offer me and my broker contemplated a negotiation strategy to win, and get my clients the home they wanted as much below market price as we could. Their offer was ten thousand less than the asking price with ten thousand seller contribution to the closing cost. The sellers didn’t accept their offer and countered back with a ten thousand over the asking price with ten thousand seller contribution. They countered back basically with the full price offer! I got on the phone and started to bargaining an agreement with the other agent, but we knew exactly what we wanted and used our planned negotiating strategy to get it. Steve and Min told me what the absolute most was that they would pay for the house, and my goal was to get it for them for less than that. 

After negotiating with the other agent and his clients, I was able to get them the house for the full asking price plus ten thousand in seller contribution. Our original offer! At the end of it all I was able to get them the home for less than what they were willing to pay and on top of that got the sellers to agree to pay ten thousand dollars in Steve and Mins closing cost. Our negotiation strategy literally gained the client an instant 5% equity, that's $20,000. This was nothing less than an incredible deal for the best home in the entire neighborhood where the homes in this Ellicott City market trade at nothing less than market value. After inspections and the appraisal we settled on this home just in time for the New Year. Congratulations Steve and Min on your first home as a family!