How to make the best property purchase offer

The southeast Queensland property market has kicked into gear now it’s spring so good properties won’t last long, but sometimes it’s not just about the highest price on the table.

Experienced buyers understand that not all vendors are motivated by money – the trick is to learn what their reasons are for selling as well as what is important to them during the transaction. But that could be easier said than done.

Meighan Hetherington, principal of Property Pursuit, said sometimes the selling agent does not understand their vendor’s true motivation.

“Often sellers haven’t fully discussed with the agent what is important to them. Most agents assume that price is going to be the most important,” she said.

“We have found over time that there are three primary drivers for sellers. Each person will have different priorities but the three main things are price, privacy and timing.”

Sellers motivated by price are self-explanatory, but how can buyers structure an offer beautiful enough to attract the attention of those who are not?

Vendors concerned about privacy either don’t want the nosy neighbours (or any “strangers” at all) traipsing through open homes, or they don’t want the world to know they have a personal situation forcing the sale, such as divorce or financial problems.

“If someone is very high on privacy then sometimes getting in and doing things very quietly is going to be more attractive to them than if the agent suggests an auction campaign, with open houses, that might be quite frightening,” Ms Hetherington said.

Another driver is timing, which can be when a vendor is selling but perhaps hasn’t bought another property to live in yet. In that scenario, a short settlement is probably the last thing to offer.

Zoran Solano of Hot Property Buyers Agency said buyers should consider offering a rent-back, which allows the vendor to stay in the property for an agreed timeframe after settlement.

“As long as you’re going unconditional in a timely manner, sometimes sellers actually want a delayed settlement because they haven’t found anything else yet or they might even want a rent-back for six months,” he said.

“We have secured [properties] over owner-occupiers because the owner-occupier buyer could not offer a rent-back.”

Another tip, Mr Solano said, was to offer a slightly different price.

“Also offer an unusual number. Don’t put $550,000 or $555,000. Go $556,500 or something like that because there have been numerous times where I have secured property for $1000, $2000 or $2500 more, which is a really small, insignificant number in the scheme of it.”