Self-Sufficiency in Style
Buying your smallholding - Part Nine
Making an offer.
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Self-Sufficiency in Style Buying your smallholding - Part Nine Making an offer. |
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Not just a question of money. |
You have found your
shareholding, know everything about the house and land, the area and how you
intend to live there.
You have talked to the existing owners and have made sure that both the sellers and their agents know that you are a serious potential purchaser with ready funds. You are ready to make an offer, but not so quick. |
| Never make an
offer without appropriate professional advice. The law is changing even in
the Anglophone countries. Australia is currently introducing legislation to
try to make buyers and sellers behave better.
You may even be faced with an auction or sealed bids. You MUST have appropriate guidance. It is not just a question of price, the form must be right too. |
Essential advice. |
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We all criticise people who save all their lives but never get to enjoy the money.
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Even in a falling market, you
should not assume that your offer should be less than any guide price.
Conversely, in a rising market it should not automatically be more than the seller's indication. Acquiring smallholdings or homesteads are more than a smart deal. You want the place for a new way of life and should proceed with care. Three times in the writer's life potential property purchasers lost the deal by failing to make the right offer. In each case, they later admitted they had been prepared to pay more and regretted their parsimony. |
| In the same way a seller has
to be careful not to push so hard for the top dollar that they drive away
willing purchasers for an unreliable one offering more.
All buyers and sellers must also be aware that changes in tax bands can mean that a buyer pays a much lower net price by paying a tiny amount less; and a seller gets better net proceeds by charging a lower gross price. Complicated stuff! Just such changes are expected in England and Wales at the time of writing. |
Taxing business. |
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Always be aware of any potential cultural and generational tendencies. |
At some stage during the
negotiation there will come a "crunch" moment. Such a moment is common to
all serious negotiations.
It comes in different ways in different cultures and generations. The Japanese regard all items as open for discussion until all are settled. Europeans generally settle one item at a time never revisiting. The British, uniquely and for the older generations only outside farming, are non-negotiators. They regard "haggling" as undignified and tend to stick to a pre-prepared price or offer come what may. It is a legacy of the long gone Resale Price Maintenance. |
| This inflexibility on price
can bring about some strange consequences. Many of the properties on the
market may well be over-priced and therefore, effectively "not for sale."
That can be pretty frustrating for willing purchasers who have found their "heart's desire." |
Vendors, in particular, may have been born before the days of car boot and yard sales. |
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Every property sale, indeed
and many other large transactions, have a crunch moment.
This is the moment when either the sale is going to go ahead or not. It is the moment when last minute doubts surface, usually signalled by an unreasonable or excessive demand on one side or the other. Get it out of the way early. Let the deal fail early. Don't make the mistake of becoming embroiled in lengthy negotiations. |
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When making an offer, get it right. |
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You may return to
Buying your smallholding - Part One - Don't complicate things! In the meantime, if you are so inclined, you can return to FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS which deals specifically with Hangman's Cottage or perhaps UNDERSTANDING ESTATE AGENTS will offer you some help for any sale or purchase |
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recognising the issues - from a decisive Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
