Flexibility is key when trying to sell your NYC apartment. Life is an ever changing canvas where the color scheme isn’t known until the paint finally dries. When you have a serious buyer, and they come to the table requesting seller concessions, should you play ball? Well, I have just one simple question for you, Do you want to sell your apartment? If the answer is yes, then you better start learning yoga, my friend. As with any financial transaction, there has to be a bit of fluidity to keep things moving forward. Sometimes facts change quickly and you have to adjust and keep up with your transaction. Speaking from my own personal experience, I have lost several deals, and a couple hundred thousand dollars along the way because a deal/transaction didn’t line up quite like I had envisioned. I was $200, $2000, $20,000 (didn’t matter) short of what I thought I deserved, and held out for what I thought I was due. Turned out I received nothing. The deal(s) fell apart, and not only did I lose my potential profit but I lost my capital as well. Money that I invested to make the deal happen. Trust me, a profit is better than no profit at all. When facing a stress test (one of life’s uncertain decision points) as I like to call them, you need to rely on a trusted advisor. When selling your apartment, that trusted advisor is your real estate agent. TripleMint’s team is always available to help guide you through the sales process, and help you make not only an informed decision but also the right decision.
Closing Costs.
Buyers will typically request a seller concession to cover a portion of their closing costs. This is pretty common, and as a seller it should almost be factored in when listing your apartment for sale. The good thing about closing cost concessions is that as the seller, you are really not charging out of pocket to provide these concessions to the buyer. Essentially, you are using the buyer’s own money to fund their closing costs. There really isn’t a downside to this approach. It helps the buyer facilitate the transaction, so that you can sell your apartment. If the buyer doesn’t have the liquidity to complete the transaction, the financing will fall through and you can’t sell your apartment. This is almost considered a standard operating procedure in order to close most real estate transactions. When you have found someone that appreciates your NYC apartment as much as you do, you need to make sure that you keep your buyer in play.
Timing.
Another common buyer request is to push the closing date further than you had anticipated. As the seller, you want to sell now, today. There isn’t any benefit to pushing a sale date out. You are looking to cash in on the equity of your apartment, and you can’t do that until you close. However, the benefit of working with your buyer is that at the end of the storm there will hopefully be a rainbow with your long awaited pot of gold. Buyers may need to push the closing date out to give themselves enough time to finalize their financing. The real fun with financing starts when there is a signed contract on an apartment and the buyer has to fully complete their financing package, and work with the mortgage underwriter to get their financing finalized.
Repairs.
You repaired your apartment from top to bottom, and fixed any and all major issues. You are on top of it. However, your buyer seems to feel differently. While you fixed everything that you thought was an issue, your buyer points out other problems that you thought were fine. It was just part of the charm of the apartment. Even if it’s not truly broken, the buyer wants it fixed or needs it fixed supposedly. In reality, this is a pretty common tactic for buyers to shave a little bit off the purchase price. Unless there is extreme demand for your apartment, it is probably more cost effective to work something out with your current buyer rather than starting the process all over again. The buyer could be happy with a decrease of as little as $500 or it may take a few thousand to appease them. Unless there is a true concern identified by the buyers that would prohibit them from living in your apartment until the issues are resolved, most buyers just want to drop the sales price by a couple thousand so they can feel like they are getting a good deal.
Unusual Requests.
So you have closed the deal, almost, but there is a small, yet unusual request from the buyer. The buyer likes your couch, and they want you to leave it. Or they like your window treatments, or your sculpture of Buda, or maybe even your life size Yoda. At the end of the day, the buyer wants you to sweeten the deal just a bit. Maybe this isn’t an issue, but maybe it is? Do you really want to delay your sale because of a couch or a painting that you have? Maybe the buyer wants a Home Depot or Lowes gift card to cover a new Washer/Dryer, Dishwasher, or maybe another appliance? If you sell enough apartments you will probably run into this issue at one time or another. A gift card or a piece of furniture to facilitate a real estate transaction may not be that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Now if it’s a $10,000 couch that would be different, but usually the buyer is looking for something nominal. You just need to make sure you keep perspective while selling your apartment. What matters most in the end, the couch or a wire transfer from the title company?
Sell Your Apartment.
Life is all about compromise. With your spouse or significant other, your kids, your job, and just about everything else. Your apartment listing’s success is guided by not only your realtor, but by your willingness to be flexible.
I love NYC.
