When you finally stumble upon that dream property its highly likely that you will find yourself competing for its affections with other serious suitors. Its quite likely those bidders may be as serious and have deeper pockets than you. So how do you give yourself the edge and make your offer stand out more favourably? Sellers usually want more money, but this is not always the case. So how can you present your case more effectively? What the seller and their agent may be more persuaded by is your ability to exchange contracts on the deal more quickly.

You need to empathise with the sellers and see things from their viewpoint.  What do they want from you? Well you could offer to exchange contracts extremely quickly. In a best case scenario both the seller and the buyer would be motivated and prepared. The sellers solicitor needs to have title deeds and pre-sale information from their clients. The buyer needs to have his solicitor placed in funds for the full amount of the deposit which is usually 10% of the purchase price. The buyers solicitor should be ready to fast track a land registry personal search so that exchange can happen quickly.  Our clients always have a surveyor ready to carry our a survey immediately, in days and hours, not weeks.

So where does the attended exchange bit come in? This is where your solicitor goes personally to the sellers solicitors office with a cheque for the deposit. It is a fact of life that with the modern methods of transferring money and the introduction of the telephone the attending bit can be dispensed with. Its the willingness to attend thats more important!

It never ceases to amaze me that so many buyers are totally unprepared and ill equipped to present a good case to a seller particularly given the liklihood that they will be in competition. Happy Bidding!

Labels: attended-exchange, property offer