Selling Dilemma in Las Vegas

[David Eisen]

I'm selling one of my rental houses in Las Vegas. Listed for 289K. Got an offer for 279K with the seller to contribute 7k to closing costs and purchase home warranty plan for $695.00. Buyer would get an FHA loan. I want to counter. I'm thinking of 2 possibilities.

1. meet the price in the middle 284K and split the closing costs 50/50... $3500 each side. The home warranty would be negotiable.

2. hold firm with the full price 289K, and agree to pay the 7k in closing. I figure since buyer is going FHA, she's looking to pay as little as possible. 3.5% (FHA) for an additional 10k would only cost her $350.00, right? If I pay the 7k closing, it would save the buyer the hefty closing costs, but from my side, paying 7k in closing costs would be cheaper than paying 3500 in closing and losing 5000 for the lower sales price... total = 8,500 versus 7,000. I would get her to pay the warranty.

Am I looking at this the right way, or wrong way?  Anyone have some other negotiating tips?

[Brad Bellstedt]

Option 2 sounds like a more likely outcome to me. The buyer gets their closing costs so long as it appraises, you make more in the end, and your wait for the "right" buyer is over. The home warranty could go either way but I would recommend holding off on it for now and use it as leverage later. The buyer is most likely going to ask for some repairs after the inspection so you can toss that back in at that time and reduce your list of repairs. Also, you can get a good home warranty from OneGuard from $499. I would offer a credit of $499 for a home warranty as part of your repairs response and include a copy of the brochure for what that plan covers. If the buyer wants to chip in another $200 later to upgrade to the next plan, that's their decision and you saved $201.