Put yourself in the Seller's shoes and imagine how they will react to everything you are about to put in your offer. Oral promises are not legally enforceable when it comes to the sale of real estate.
PURCHASE PRICE
Once we have looked at the comparables together, we will be in a position to determine what kind of price you should offer.
The factors that could affect the offer price are:
- property condition
- new home improvement
- market conditions
- seller's motivation
- length of time the property has been on the market
- multiple offers - expect to pay more if there are multiple bidders on a property
DEPOSIT
Once you have come up with an offer price, you need to determine how large a deposit you would like to offer - it needs to be large enough to show the seller that you are serious without placing significant funds at risk.
POSSESSION DATE
You want to determine the best move-in date based on your current conditions taking in consideration the date of the sale of your house (if applicable), the school year start/end date, etc.
CONDITIONS
You'll likely want to include conditions such as finance, inspection, status report (if the property is a condominium), etc.
Finance
You will probably need to get a mortgage Even if you have been pre-approved, the lender will still need time to have the appraisal done.
Home Inspection
Once your offer has been accepted, you'll want to hire a professional inspector to inspect your future home. Remember that no home is perfect and small maintenance-type things found by the home inspector should not be part of any re-negotiations with the Seller.
CHATTELS/FIXTURES INCLUDED
You'll need to determine what you will be needing such as appliances, window coverings, etc. and look at what has been included or excluded in the listing (those are usually negotiable).