5 Magic questions that willsave you thousands when you buy

WelcomeStarr Partners Liverpool was first established in 1990. The previous owner commenced the business with himself and a receptionist. After over 15 years, of hard work and continual success, in 2005 he decided to part with the business.

In November 2005, Simon Perri, a local resident of Liverpool’s outer suburb Rossmore, and Michael O’Sullivan the current real estate director of Campbelltown Starr Partners, decided to join together in the purchase of Starr Partners Liverpool.

Between the two, they have in excess of 35 years real estate experience. Both partners decided to rebirth Starr Partners Liverpool. In doing so, they committed to some basic principals. They are, to provide the highest possible customer service to their clients, and achieve the best possible outcome for all. We believe Starr Partners Liverpool has now achieved that.

Today, we are a major force within the Liverpool area. We have seen great success for all of our clients, and regardless of the market conditions, have been able to achieve record sale prices. Over time Starr Partners has been able to amalgamate a further four offices together with their current office.

In early 2008, Starr Partners Liverpool’s success was recognised by the public, with less than 2 year of operation, Starr Partners was the recipient of the Small Business Award based on the performance and professionalism voted by their clients. The director Simon Perri goes forward to say “standing on the basic principals of providing high quality service and ensuring the best results for our clients, we will continue to do our utmost regardless, our main priority is that we ensure that our clients always come first”.

Starr Partners Liverpool stands for the highest quality service, with honour, respect and honesty in our daily dealings with all of our clients, associates, work colleges and members of the public.

This booklet is designed to assist you by offering advice and our professional service when purchasing or selling your property.

Starr Partners Liverpool endeavours to be recognised by the community which we serve as being caring, well respected and an efficient real estate agent within the Liverpool area.

We would be happy to assist you with your enquiries. Please phone our office on 9822 5999.

Simon PerriDirector & Licensee In Charge

Real Estate is the same the world over.

Every property seller wants the absolute maximum for his or her home and every property buyer wants an enormous discount off the asking price.

This is human nature.

Standing between the two parties, however, is generally a real estate professional.

In NSW, real estate agents generally act for property sellers (after all, property sellers pay for our services). As a result, property buyers are pretty much left “out in the cold”. They have to rely on their own resources to negotiate the best price for a property.

And that is the purpose of this SPECIAL REPORT – 5 Magic Questions That Will Save You Thousands When You Buy.

We thought it about time we “turned the tables”.

We thought it time to give purchasers a fighting chance when it comes to negotiating their next property purchase.

The questions that follow are the very best negotiating questions available to the average property buyer.

We know because, over the years, clever property purchasers have used these same questions when trying to negotiate with us for a discount off the asking price of a property listed with our firm.

And when you use these same questions correctly you may also be able to squeeze an additional discount or concession from a property seller when next you negotiate the purchase of a property. You never know, you might save yourself thousands in the process.

You’ll have nothing to lose and everything to gain if you simply give them a try.

5 Magic Questions that will save you thousands when you buy

There are as many reasons for selling a property, as there are people in the world.In the main, however, you can divide all these reasons into two distinct categories - those that require a quick sale and those that do not require a quick sale.Clearly, a property seller with a reason for selling that requires a quick sale might well consider a lower selling price than someone with a reason for selling that does not require a quick saleAnd what sort of reasons for selling belong in the first category ? Here’s a few . . . Property owners who are selling as a result of a divorce.Property owners who are selling as a result of financial hardship.Property owners who are selling as a result of a job transfer.

Property owners who are selling in order to buy another property to which they are already committed.Property owners who are selling as a result of an injury, illness or death in the household.Property owners who are selling as a result of a neighbourhood dispute.If you ask this question and then hear any of these reasons you may well be able to negotiate a lower selling price than if there were a more mundane answer such as “the owners are selling in order to update to a larger home”.

“Why are the owners selling ?”

1.Here’s a simple truth - in most cases, the longer a property is on the market the keener the seller is to make a sale. In some circumstances this may well translate into a lower selling price.

If you’ve ever had your home for sale in the past you’ll understand that there’s a certain degree of excitement for property sellers when they first put their property on the market.

This excitement quickly wanes over the first few weeks when buyer after buyer troops through their home without making an offer - or when weeks go by without an inspection at all.

Either way, the drudgery of having to make their home look like a show home from 9.00am every morning (in case there is an inspection) can be very draining for most home owners

especially when they have to clean up after children.

After a few weeks human nature kicks in and most homeowners are willing to consider a lower price than the one they may have started with only weeks before.

On the other hand, a property that is only new to the market is unlikely to allow a discount off the asking price.

So you can probably see that the answer to this question can often help you work out how much a property seller might discount their asking price in order to make a sale.

“How long has this property been on the market ?”

2.

4.This question could open a number of negotiating possibilities.

Firstly, a good agent will be armed with a list of those items that are included with the sale of the property.

Generally, you can count on at least 4 items - fixed floor coverings, light fittings, curtains and blinds. The balance of the list of inclusions will vary from property to property.

The important thing is to obtain the list.

Once you’ve got the list have another careful look through the house. Look at each item on the list and ask yourself whether you like / need this item. Ask yourself what it would cost you to replace this item if it weren’t

included with the sale.

You may decide that some of the items on the list of inclusions are things you don’t want. Once you’ve decided what you don’t want you are in a position to pose another question ;

“Since I don’t want / need (whatever items you’ve decided you don’t require) I would expect that the owner would discount their asking price by an amount equal to the value of these items - could you ask the owner ?”

You never know what answer you might get - you may even get a discount off the asking price. But you’ll never know if you don’t ask the question.

“What’s included with the sale ?”

3.“Have there been any other offers – if so, how much ?”This question is reasonably self-explanatory but surprisingly few people think to ask it when they are negotiating.

So, let’s think about it for a minute.

If you knew that there had been offers made for the purchase of the property you wanted to buy you might be led to believe the following ;

a. That other people had seen sufficient value in the property to make an offer. In other words, the home has been popular and if you don’t hurry someone else may well buy it before you ; and / or,

b. That the property seller is stubborn and is holding out for “their” price and it may therefore prove difficult to negotiate a selling price suitable to you.

Either way, simply knowing the answer to the first part of the question has little benefit to

you if you are a buyer hoping to negotiate a lower selling price.But when you know the answer to the second part of the question you may discover a negotiating advantage. Knowing exactly what happened during a previous negotiation will provide invaluable clues that will assist you in determining how much to offer when you start negotiating.For example, if a property seller received an offer several weeks ago and rejected the offer because it was too low the very same offer may now be of great interest to the owner. This is especially true if several weeks have elapsed since the last offer - consider this in light of the answer to Question # 1 above.On the other hand the value of previous offer will tell you the price an owner will not accept - your first offer could then be placed slightly above this last rejected offer in order to conclude any negotiations quickly and, hopefully, to your advantage.

Very often an owner will “pay” you to move quickly by allowing a sizeable discount off the asking price if you are able to settle faster than the normal six to eight weeks.

In order to take advantage of this question, however, you will need to have your financing ready to go by arranging your mortgage well before you begin to look seriously.

You’ll also need to know how quickly your bank can settle the purchase. This is a key point as some banks can take up to a week after your solicitors have completed all the final searches to draw the required cheques for settlement - so find out what your bank can do before committing to anything like an early settlement.

In any case an early settlement can benefit both parties and better still early settlement may be worth a sizeable discount to the owner - all you have to do is ask.

“How long is the settlement period – would the owner like to settle quicker ?”

5.

And now the rest is up to you.

Give these questions a go when you next enter into negotiations with a property seller and you might be very pleased with the outcome.

GOOD LUCK !

Contact Details 3/52-58 Memorial Ave Liverpool NSW 2170

Phone: (02) 9822 5999 Fax: (02) 9824 0582

Or by email info@starrpartnersliverpool.com.au

Visit our website www.starrpartnersliverpool.com.au

This Special Report was provided to you free of charge by Starr Partners Liverpool.If you would like to take the next step on your path towards buying a property simply call our offi ce, 7 days a week, on 9822 5999 and speak with a member of our sales team – they will be happy to answer all your questions.If you would like some further information regarding buying, selling or renting property, we produce a range of Special Reports on different subjects – simply call us on 9822 5999 to arrange to have a full list of available reports posted to you.If you liked what you read in this report we would very much appreciate it if you would mention our name to your friends, relatives, neighbours and co-workers – you can be certain we’ll look after them, their property and their future.

PLEASE NOTE : Recipients of this report are reminded that, although due care has been taken in the preparation of the within contained material, prospective property buyers and sellers are always best served by making their own independent inquiries before the sale or purchase of a property.

© M. O’Sullivan 2001