New (and soon to be) investors think that negotiating is really hard. And while that’s not necessarily wrong, real estate negotiations, in most cases, are simple and straightforward. That’s probably because most don’t begin to negotiate until there’s an inspection and/or contractor’s bid in hand. Whether you are using a real estate agent, working directly with a seller, making an offer, or simply submitting a letter of intent to purchase, an inspection is critical. With that, here are a few reasons why you should wait until after the inspection to negotiate:

You have the sellers committed to selling

After you’ve locked in a contract, typically the sellers will breathe a sigh of relief. The hardest part of listing a property is usually waiting and hoping someone makes an offer. When it comes time to negotiate for repairs, the buyer has all the power and can usually ask for anything they want, as the seller knows you can walk away if you don’t agree. Thus, most are willing to negotiate.

Home Inspection

You can make a stronger offer

Committing to negotiating after the inspection allows a buyer to put forth a strong, competitive offer and move on to the due diligence phase. There are other ways to make offers strong: quick closing, cash purchase, few or no contingencies. However, if you lowball the listing price or try to include several discounts in your initial offer, you risk offending the seller.

You already have a solid contract locked

You can ask for everything you want and walk away if you don’t get it. If you know what’s important to you and what actually constitutes a deal-breaker, then you simply terminate the contract if the seller isn’t willing to give you what you want. Since you are still within the timeline of your inspection and resolution period, you should have no trouble recovering the money deposit.