Making an offer to purchase real estate.

Thinking of Making An Offer…Here’s How the NH Real Estate Process Will Work.

Real Estate Closing Costs                           Tax Escrows…usually 4-6 months of tax payments   $2,000.00             Tax Stamps…$7.50 per thousand of the purchase price $1,500.00 (Total $15.00 per thousand split evenly by buyer & seller)       Lender Fees…average $3,000- $5,000 $4,500.00         Total RE Closing Costs (EST) $8,000.00   (approximately 4% of the purchase price)       *EST based on:   Sales Price of $200,000   $4000/yr Tax Figure   $3,000 Lender Fee                             A Good Rule of Thumb When Calculating Closing Cost Estimates Expect Your Closing Costs to Be ~ 4% of the Purchase Price

Have Representation Help You Through the Process:

- We will guide you through the process

- Give you sample documentation to familiar yourself with the Purchase and Sales Agreement

- Determine Market Value from current verifiable mls data

- Recommend an offering price

As Buyers’ Agents’, we’re happy to set a time should you choose to get together to go through the property paperwork, purchase agreement, explain the inspection process, etc. We can send you a blank NH purchase agreement for you to get an idea of what it looks like. As your buyers’ agents’, we’ll pull the recent closed comparables for the potential offer property in the past 90 days, just as an appraiser would use, to verify current market value.

****If we are acting as a Disclosed Dual Agent, the one recommendation we can not make is on what to make an offer at. The complete Agency Disclosure of Real Estate Relationships defines real estate roles in NH.

Based on over 30 years local Real Estate market experience typically for negotiations to be successful there is compromise from both sides. However, most of buyers are making offers 10% below asking price on average, trying to save some money.

**If we're up against another offer, I'd recommend you make your best offer up front. Keep in mind any inspection issues will be able to be negotiated to repair or reduce the purchase price in the first weeks after a purchase agreement is made.

If my buyer told me they wanted to move forward on a property I'd tell them this:

1. Get your financing letter together. It's best to have them put the property address in the letter to not give away any financial leverage regarding what your financed up to. Have this letter ready as it would be needed to include with an offer. You do not have to disclose any of your financing ability to me. Say you qualify up to $300K, I don't need to know that.

2. Have funds prepared for your required good faith deposit. The monies will not be deposited into the listing firms' escrow account until there are successfully negotiated terms on the offer agreement. Hence, you'll want to think about the percentage your putting down, and what deposit amount(s) you'd like to put together. You can do a first deposit required with the offer. A second deposit at a specified time in the future prior to closing is an option, but not required by the state. I'd have you bring your check book and pre-approval letter if for us to draft the offer.

3. On the mortgage side you'll want to discuss with your lender if they have you pay for your banks appraisal (required by your lender to fund the loan, property must appraise at or above sales price) out of pocket or not. I also have referrals for financing if you'd like to explore more options. I highly recommend creating a team of qualified experienced individuals as your representatives whom are local, and make themselves available to you!

4. In NH we negotiate the terms of the purchase agreement, then conduct inspections within X # of days of the accepted agreement. There are a lot of options for timelines. I can relay to keep things moving forward in the 30-45 typical closing timeline my buyers typically do a 7 to 14 day inspection timeline. So, once we've agreed on terms between buyer and seller, the buyer has the # of days selected to complete their inspections. Any findings can then be presented to the seller to negotiate remedies or reduction in sales price for the buyer to remedy after closing. If anything is required by the FHA appraiser (required by your lender), then those he comments on would need to be repaired prior to closing.

In this market though, negotiating an offer first can give a buyer the opportunity on the property before another party or offer is competing. Additionally, quick responsiveness to new inventory or a property of interest can help you achieve better negotiations on a lower sales price or better terms and conditions for you by being the only offer at that time.

The point of inspections is to test all systems for functionality , septic passes or fails, water results are provided from a testing lab. I can give you referrals for inspector options unless you have your own. I've attached a typical breakdown of inspection costs when on private systems such as Merrimack. You pay for these costs the day inspections are held (all in same couple of hours). As I mentioned, the idea of tying up the property to conduct your assessments in this spring market can have its' advantages. Negotiating an offer with the seller before your up against another offer is preferred.