Negotiations with house-builder

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by didadi

Yes, we do like the house. But, thats it. If I do not get a good deal on it, or if I miss it , thats fine with us. I want to be as less emotionally attached with this stuff as possible. Its difficult!

Buying a house is a difficult stressful decision. Try to relax, you have the right attitude that you can take it or leave it. I have found in my 4 houses that I have bought we ended stressing over each one. They have all worked out for us, but never has the decision been easy.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[austin-steve]

1. What would be the best strategy to move forward ?
2. What am i missing here?
Any relevant suggestions will be helpful. I'm trying to take less-emotionally charged decision. My current mood is, if i get this house at 230K + upgrades + builder paying the closing costs, it would be pretty darn good.
If we don't get, its perfectly fine with us.

Well, you could write the same article about an attempted car purchase, or a used piano, or anything that requires a buyer and seller to negotiate.

Unless you walk away from the deal completely, you won't find out whether the builder is "BSing" or not. I just helped a buyer walk away from the builders "final" "rock bottom" price and the builder called the next day and was willing to go another $2,100 down, so my buyer decided that was good anough and we are under contract.

But your mistake is in thinking that a "good deal" is something relative to the list price. Instead, have your agent run CMAs on the neighborhood and comparable homes for the area. Then you decide what you think that particular home is worth to you and proceed accordingly. Having a 2nd and 3rd choice in mind, that your ready and willing to fall back to, will help frame the value in your mind. If you can't even find a #2 and #3, then you reduce your negotiating power and you're probably too picky to fully benefit from the current market environment.

Good luck.

Steve

[didadi]

Ofcourse - builder is BS'ing. The salesperson openly says "We are here to make the $". What does that convey to you. On top of it, I'm having the CMA as well. My good deal sentence was based on CMA
and some self research. But,yes I take your comments in +ve way and thanks for the same.

[shankaupas]

Of course the builder is there to make money. He is running a business and wants to get paid and wants to pay his employees. What you are trying to find out is what is the builder willing to give up. The builder set his price based on the costs of building the house, the cost of the land, and the market value in the area. There is room for negotiation which you have already found out. Like Steve said, if you are prepared to walk away from the deal if it is not to your liking, make sure you have a fallback plan.