All Forum Posts by: Christin Nguyen

 Good luck! Let us know what they say for those of us now invested! lol

Hi Christin, 

Of course you can ask. Weigh your options - does not getting what you want break the deal? Do your numbers still make sense (generate cash flow) without the buy down? If I were you I would write out why this is justified and ask your agent to deliver the short statement to the sellers. This will show them that this isn’t a money grab and they may be more inclined to give you what you want. All the best! Keep us updated. 

You issued an offer with certain financing terms. To ask them to buy down the interest rate for no reason might shut them off.

Many times Sellers have told me and my clients not to ask for anything from inspections. We still do and we still get money. It's all about presentation. I also recommend providing some guarantee that you are going close should they give you that credit. It's all about getting to the finish line. Sellers aren't going to want to go back to the open market, where they may get less money and still have carrying costs.

I would ask for the health and safety repairs and explain that it is just out of your budget. Also be willing to either (1) take it as is or (2) walk away. The person who cares the least has the most leverage.

Rule of thumb is that if this is a non occupied investment property the seller will only be able to contribute 2% off of the loan amount. I have had a ton of luck with seller concession in this area and it is totally achievable. 

Most sellers would rather give you a credit or price reduction before placing money in escrow for repairs. In Ohio you have to escrow 1.5 times the amount of the quoted repair cost with a timeline set in place to execute said repair. This ties up the sellers money and most of the time would prefer the previous mentioned routes.

When in doubt run your numbers and show the seller! People are not unreasonable and you don't work for free. You need to see cashflow and if this is the way to achieve it then they would relatively understand.

Good Luck!

@Christin Nguyen

First, congrats on getting under contract with your first property.

Your realtor while new, should try to negotiate as best as possible for you. With that said, instead of trying to type what she is to ask the seller's agent, ask her to simply have a conversation with the agent first to see if her client would be amiable to granting that buydown percentage that you need. Then have her formally make the request.

If you're still within your DD period, as others have suggested, if your agent feels strongly that the property will appraise, then have her go on on the sales price and request the buydown amount on the back end. This way you have a win-win for all parties.

You could also see if the Lender has any Lender credits they could offer. Are there any courses that you could complete that could offer you any kind of credits as well.

Forgo asking for help due to repairs if you already said you would not be asking for any. Besides, I'm pretty sure the buydown rate will be more beneficial to you.

You've got this. Happy closing.

@Christin Nguyen

First, congrats on getting under contract with your first property.

Your realtor while new, should try to negotiate as best as possible for you. With that said, instead of trying to type what she is to ask the seller's agent, ask her to simply have a conversation with the agent first to see if her client would be amiable to granting that buydown percentage that you need. Then have her formally make the request.

If you're still within your DD period, as others have suggested, if your agent feels strongly that the property will appraise, then have her go on on the sales price and request the buydown amount on the back end. This way you have a win-win for all parties.

You could also see if the Lender has any Lender credits they could offer. Are there any courses that you could complete that could offer you any kind of credits as well.

Forgo asking for help due to repairs if you already said you would not be asking for any. Besides, I'm pretty sure the buydown rate will be more beneficial to you.

You've got this. Happy closing.

@Christin Nguyen

You said your inspection contingency described that you wouldn’t ask for repairs, but you’re not asking for repairs, you are asking for a financial resolution to your findings.
Have your Realtor write up the objection form for your state that outlines your request and submit it. The worst that can happen is that the seller says no. 

@Christin Nguyen

I’m an investor and agent. Since this sounds like one of your first times purchasing then just state that. Tell them you are not used to any standard procedure and it’s not always common for an agent to talk about “standard” negotiating procedure before locking up a deal. Ignorance or being a rookie is a good enough excuse to ask. You can’t get what you want if you don’t ask. It’s going to be a low chance of getting that request to have seller contribute more because you don’t have much basis to ask for the additional contribution since the inspection turned out good and I’m sure the seller knows they have a good/solid property also. Now you know for next time.

I would have her relay to the sellers that there were several things that you are going to need to fix from the property inspection, and you are not asking them to pay for those things, just the points to get the loan, which I am assuming the contract in financing contingent. This (hopefully) creates some incentive on the sellers part to agree to your request, if they are concerned about dropping out of escrow. Additionally, it demonstrated that you could have asked for more, but are already "Meeting them in the middle".