The offer

D - Ask For the Offer: How can you ask the buyer for the offer?

Some buyers simply don’t know how to begin the process of making an offer. When buyers show interest, it’s a little awkward to ask them if they’d like to make an offer. 

But you can actually get the ball rolling by using assuming techniques and slipping in the right kind of question.

Ask assumptive questions:

The buyers have shown real interest but it’s obvious they need a nudge to get started. 

First, state something non-threatening that prompts a positive response, like, "The place is bigger than it looks from the street, isn't it?" or "Did you catch the view from the deck?"   

Then ask direct, inquisitive questions that assume that the prospect is a serious buyer. "When are you looking to move?" "Have you settled on a lender yet?"  "Did you like the window treatments? I'm sure they won't fit into our next home." "What about the appliances?"  

With each question and answer, the buyer is making decisions, buying decisions. When you feel that you and the buyer are on the same page, get a pad and pencil and start writing these down. Then say, “I know you're going to love it here. Well, we might as well do this right. I’ve got a blank Purchase Agreement that all the local agents use.”

The buyers will stop you if they’re not singing from the same hymnal. Otherwise, the selling process should keep right on going through an agreed upon price and all the contract points. 

Use rapid questions:

With this technique you “ask for the offer”–but follow quickly, with a question of lesser importance that is designed to be answered first.

"You two seem to fit right at home here. Would you like to sit out in the family room and see if we can come to an agreement? Oh, I forgot, would you want the washer and dryer? I hate to move them even though they're less than two years old.”

By answering positively about the appliances, the buyer is really providing an answer to the first question, the main issue. Move to the family room and start talking about a close date and proceed from there.

A word of caution:

In the above situations, be sure you are using contracts or purchase offers supplied by an attorney or local real estate agent. Also, you do not want to help a buyer who can't prepare one himself. As the seller, you do not want to be in a position of being accused of taking advantage of a buyer in any unscrupulous way.