While buying your new home, you’ll find out that most everything is negotiable. Your real estate agent can be very helpful with this process. Here are some things that may be negotiable when purchasing your new home:

• Price
• Financing
• Occupancy (When can you get the key and move in?)
• Furniture (Will the seller include certain pieces?)
• Painting (Will the seller repaint a portion of or the entire house?)
• Repairs (Will the seller repair the roof, plumbing, windows, etc., and what kind and quality of repairs will be made?)
• Yard (Will the seller remove unwanted trees, bushes - put in desired landscaping?)
• Fixtures (Which lights, fans, appliances, etc. stay and which go?)
• Wall coverings (Do the drapes stay or go?)
• Prepaid taxes and insurance (Will the seller credit you with these?)
• Closing costs (except where specified by financing or law)

Negotiation gives the buyer power in making a transaction favorable for the buyer. As with any negotiating, be prepared to do give some and take some. Let your real estate agent work with you and the seller to come to the best possible terms for everyone.

For extra precaution, you should have a professional inspector go through the house to search for potential problems. Even if you’ve made a complete walk-through, asked the right questions and discussed the offer with your real estate agent, a professional may find problems that would be easy for you to overlook. Even if the problems are things the seller is not expecting to repair, at least you’ll have knowledge of potential problems.

After you’ve received the inspection report, you’ll want to permit yourself sufficient time to review and approve the report. If the report reveals things about the home you don’t approve, you may negotiate with the sellers on which repairs they should take care of and who should pay for those repairs. Otherwise, you may cancel the purchase without penalty, provided you have included timetables in your offer. Allow a maximum of ten to fifteen days to receive the report and five days to analyze it.

It is absolutely essential that you include a closing date as part of your offer. With this added in both you and the seller can make plans for moving in and out. This also allows the seller to make plans for buying his or her next home. This should also include the time needed to renegotiate after reviewing the professional inspection report.

Though most transactions do close on the correct date, remain flexible to avoid delays that may create difficult problems.

For example, if you’re renting and need to give the landlord notice that you’re moving out, you are going to want to allow flexibility in your time line. Otherwise, if your purchase closes a few days late you may find yourself staying in a motel with your belongings packed in a moving van somewhere while you pay storage costs.

You're almost to the end of your home buying experience. Soon, you can begin living in the home of your choice. Now that you and your seller have come to an agreement, you’re ready to sign the contract and put down your earnest money (money indicating the seriousness of your offer). There are all kinds of people and services involved behind the scenes to make this happen before you put the key in the lock.

First, you want to close the deal. The closing process shouldn’t take too long; there are only six major steps.
These steps generally are taken care of at your title company office. Participants at this meeting are you, the buyer, the seller, your attorneys - if you have them, your real estate agent, escrow agents and anyone else who may have an interest in the transfer of title.

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