How to negotiate on a property

An offer with no deadline is a free option for the seller. They will use it to go back to every other buyer and say they have something in hand. Your number becomes the floor other people bid from.

Give it a genuine expiry. Twenty-four to forty-eight hours is normal and nobody will think you are being difficult. It forces a decision instead of a shopping trip.

Buyers negotiate price. Sellers care about certainty. Those are not the same thing, and the gap is where you win.

A settlement date that suits them, a larger deposit, a shorter finance clause or fewer conditions can all be worth more to a seller than another few thousand dollars. Ask the agent what the seller actually needs. They will usually tell you, because it helps them close.

You offer. They say the seller wants more. You raise. That is the whole trick, and it works constantly because it feels like progress.

If there is no counter-offer, there is nothing to respond to. Ask for their number in writing. Silence is not a rejection, and it is not an invitation to bid against nobody.

Off-market and pre-market properties exist in real volume. Agents often have a list of sellers who are getting ready, or who tried once and pulled out. Less competition, more room to negotiate.

The way in is simple and almost nobody does it: pick five agents in your suburb, tell them exactly what you want and that you are ready to go, and follow up every fortnight. Be specific. Vague buyers get forgotten. And check for withdrawn and relisted properties, which are usually motivated sellers.

Three sentences buyers say every weekend that cost them money: we have been looking for ages, we could stretch if we had to, and we absolutely love it.

Each one tells the agent where your ceiling is and how tired you are. Ask about the property instead. How long has it been listed, has the price moved, why are they selling, what settlement do they want. You get real information and give away nothing.

This is the one that actually saves money, and it costs nothing.

Work out from comparable sales what the property is worth, decide the number you will not go past, and write it on your phone before you walk in. Then the inspection only answers one question: is this as good as the ones that sold?

A number decided in daylight is much harder to talk yourself past than a number you invent in a hallway with someone watching.