Everything is negotiable, including the dog
Sam Schneiderman, broker owner of Great Boston Home Team, is our Monday guy. He’s been doing real estate since 1984. I admire Sam for his dedication to learning through mentors like Brian Buffini. Here is Sam’s weekly entry:
Brian Buffini is a real estate trainer. After viewing a couple of recently listed homes, Brian asked his buyer what he thought about the house they just left. The buyer responded by saying that the house was OK, but he really liked the dog. After a bit of discussion Brian was surprised to find himself writing an offer that included the dog with the sale of the house.
Many buyers and agents are reluctant to make the offers that they’d really like to make because they are afraid to alienate the seller. The reality is that experienced buyer’s and seller’s agents that know what they are doing should be able to present just about any offer and negotiate it until it either works for the parties or it doesn’t. Whether the agents like the offer or not, Massachusetts law requires that all offers (including counter-offers) must be presented.
While buyers and sellers can agree to anything, lenders will only write mortgages on “real property”, which is defined as the land and the improvements that are built on it (i.e. a house or garage) along with the systems (plumbing, heating and electrical, etc.) in the buildings that are necessary for habitability (i.e. wells and septic systems). Anything attached to the house is considered a fixture that is usually included with the sale unless specifically excluded.
Movable items like furniture, cars and pets are considered personal property and lenders will not finance them if they were negotiated into the sale. In most cases the personal property’s value is nominal (i.e. washers & dryers) but in some cases including personal property can affect the price of the house.
Appraisers are required to appraise the property without regard to personal property included in the deal. If it appears that the buyer was trying to finance expensive personal property (i.e. furniture, a car or a boat) with a long-term mortgage and the sale price exceeds the appraiser’s estimate of market value, the appraiser must deduct the value of the personal property from estimated value of the real property. The lender will then on the reduced value.
The inclusion or exclusion of appliances is generally dictated by local custom.
Perspective:
You really can’t predict where negotiations will end, but experienced buyers and agents should be able to structure a negotiation strategy that will get them where they want to go, if the other side is willing to go there.
You can’t predict how the other side will react. Brian was surprised to learn that the seller didn’t want to keep the dog and was happy to leave him with the new buyer.
What’s your best negotiation story?
What concessions have you been able to negotiate?
