1. 5 Steps to Deciding How Much to
Offer – or Ask – for Your Home

2. One of the hardest, most important decisions
homebuyers face is how much to offer for their
home. And the glut of information on the web
about real estate only makes buyers even crazier
than the decision itself does. Supply, demand,
foreclosure rates, mortgage rates – buyers think
they need to run spreadsheets and do fancy
math to make a smart offer. And THAT can be
super intimidating.

3. Step 1: What do the “comps” say? First things
first. When it comes to pricing a home, or
making an offer to buy one, the ‘first thing” is
the home’s fair market value. Both buyers and
sellers should work with an experienced, local
realtor to understand what the home’s value is.
Most agents will do this by offering you a look
back at similar properties that have recently sold
in the neighborhood.

4. Step 2: What can you afford? This step is much
more critical for buyers than for sellers.
(Unfortunately, sellers, the facts that you need
to net a particular amount to buy your next
home or pay your existing mortgages or credit
card bills off has no relationship whatsoever to
the price at which you should list or will sell your
home.)

5. Step 3: What’s your competition? (And what’s
theirs?) This is another step at which it’s critical to
check in with your realtor. You need to know what
level of competition you’ll face – whether you are a
buyer, or a seller. As a seller, you can find this out
by looking at things like how many comparable
homes are listed in your town or your
neighborhood in your general price range. Sellers
should also consider what type of transactions their
home will be up against – the more distressed
properties with which your home must compete,
the more aggressive you must be with your pricing
to get your home sold.

6. 4. How much do they need to sell (or buy)
it? Buyers: Has the listing in which you’re
interested been reduced at all? By how
much? Has the listing agent informed you that
her clients are highly motivated, flexible or have
an urgent need to sell?

7. 5.How much do you want to buy, or sell, the
place? Step #4 was about taking the motivations of
the folks on the other side of the bargaining table
into account when formulating your offer and your
list price. This step is all about you – what’s your
level of motivation? Now, buyers, you certainly
shouldn’t offer a price way above what the place is
worth (see Step #1) just because you really, really
want it, unless you have the cash to throw
around. But within the range of the home’s fair
market value, it may make sense to move higher
within that range if you are highly motivated to get
that particular property.

8. What tip did you have to offer?

9. Randy Bett
Investment Realtor/Author/Investor
Real Estate Professionals Inc.
Better Group Real Estate
202-5403 Crowchild Trail NW
Calgary, AB T3B 4Z1
Phone:403-774-7464 Ext:1
Fax:403-208-0082
Toll Free fax:888-711-6801

10. Randy Bett
www.BetterGroupRealEstate.ca