Your real estate agent can work with you to determine an offer for your home. Palm Beach real estate is highly prized, and thus there may be many offers on a single home. Depending on your personal budget, the way that you are purchasing the home and how much work needs to go into the home, your real estate agent may advise you to bid higher or lower. Sometimes, the agent may suggest that you simply bid the asking price — especially if you feel that the home is worth this amount and you want to secure it quickly.

Deciding on how much to offer for a home will often depend on how much you want the home as well. Purchasing a home isn’t only a financial decision, it’s also an emotional one.

Your offer will often be based on the following factors:

• The amount that the seller is asking. Most sellers will have done significant research and will be selling their property for about the amount that it is actually valued at, however other sellers may post their property at higher than what it is worth.
• The historic selling prices of the property. If the property was sold for significantly less recently, there is very likely a reason. Further, if the seller bought the property at much cheaper than they are now selling it, they may be more willing to haggle on price.
• The features of the property. A property that has features that cannot be found easily in another property — such as a gorgeous water feature — may make it more desirable to you.
• The work that needs to be done on the property. Naturally, properties that will require a significant amount of repairs and maintenance should be priced lower than those that are already perfect.
• Whether there are other offers. Sellers that have received many offers will be far less inclined to negotiate.

After you have put in an offer, you should never take for granted that you will get the home. There are a myriad of things that could fall through in a sale, even if yours is the only offer. This is especially true when dealing with bank owned properties. In general, the sale could fall through at any moment up until the documents are signed and the transaction is closed at the escrow office. For this reason, you should continue looking at homes and considering other homes. Your real estate agent may have other properties that are also suitable.