Buyer's Guide Page 4

Buyer's Guide

Once you have identified a home you would like to buy, you'll work with your agent to write an offer.
Remember, the list price of a home is typically only a starting point for negotiation. Don't be afraid to offer considerably less or even more than the list price. During recent seller's markets people needed to offer up to 20% or 30% over list price to compete against multiple offers. In a buyer's market it's possible to purchase a home for considerably less than the listed price.
Your agent should provide a value study to help you determine the fair market value of the property so you can decide on an initial offer price.
Your offer will detail many other aspects of the purchase, such as, the amount of your down payment, inspection contingencies, terms of cancellation, who pays closing costs and more.
Home Buyer Agents negotiates exclusively on the buyer's behalf and will never disclose any personal information to the seller without the buyers permission.

Along with your offer, you'll provide a check for a "good faith" deposit. If your offer is accepted, this check will be deposited into an escrow account and credited toward your down payment.
Once in contract with a seller your deposit can be forfeited to the seller if you default on the contract. Home Buyer Agents writes protection into any offer in the form of contingencies. These are a series of benchmarks which allow a buyer to cancel a contract without penalty if problems are discovered about the property.