Any advice for negotiating seller concessions on VA loan?

[Karin Crompton]

Hi all,

I see a lot of info regarding the buyer's angle in a VA loan, but can anyone steer me toward info on this topic from the seller's perspective, i.e. a seller having a prospective buyer who's made an offer and has a VA loan? The bottom line is, when a buyer asks for $$$ from the seller toward closing costs, pre-paids, atty fees, etc, how much of that is negotiable, and in what form? (Other than rejecting an offer outright, that is.)

My understanding is that the buyer is pretty much not supposed to pay anything out-of-pocket when using a VA loan, but that doesn't mean someone else can't step in to pay at least a portion of these costs - a relative, for example.

Any suggestions on how to counter this in negotiations? Should a seller counter with a flat number they would agree to, or else agree to certain fees but not others? Or something else?

Thanks!