Most buyers walk into a negotiation with one lever. They can offer more money or they can walk away. That is it.
It is also the single term the vendor is defending hardest, because it is the number they have been thinking about for months and the one their friends will ask about. Pushing on it is the most expensive way to win and the most likely way to lose.
A property negotiation has several currencies. Price is only the loudest. The others cost a vendor little, are sometimes worth a great deal to them, and most buyers never think to raise them.
Settlement date and length
The most under-used term in Australian property.
Settlement periods in Victoria usually run between 30 and 90 days, but that range is convention, not law. It is a number two parties agree on, and for a particular vendor it can matter more than the last twenty thousand dollars.
Someone who has already bought elsewhere needs to settle by a specific date or they are bridging. Someone who has not found their next home yet wants a long settlement, or a short one with a rent-back. A deceased estate has its own timing. An investor with a tenant in place has another.
If you can move to their date and another buyer cannot, you are worth more than that buyer at the same price.
We used this in South Melbourne. A first home buyer with a hard ceiling of $1.2m bought a home listed at $1.29m. What the vendor actually needed was a fast settlement on a specific date, and our client could do it. She paid ninety thousand dollars less than the asking price without outbidding a single person. Read the case study.
Deposit size and timing
Ten per cent is a habit, not a rule.
A smaller deposit can be agreed, or a deposit split into two payments, or a deposit paid later than signing. For a buyer whose funds are tied up in a sale or an offset account, that is real. In Victoria a deposit generally cannot be released to the seller until 28 days after signing, and then only if the contract is unconditional, so the timing question is not purely theoretical.
Some vendors want the opposite. A larger deposit signals certainty, and to a nervous seller certainty is worth paying for in price.
Conditions, and what removing them is worth
Subject to finance. Subject to building and pest. Subject to due diligence.
Every condition is protection for you and risk for the vendor. Which means every condition you remove is a concession you are making, and it should buy you something. Buyers routinely give these away without noticing they had value.
The reverse is also true. If you need a condition, do not quietly drop it to look competitive. Ask for it, and pay for it in another term.
Be careful here. Removing a finance condition when your approval is not firm is not a negotiating tactic, it is an exposure. This is the part of the negotiation where a conveyancer or solicitor earns their fee, and it is worth having the contract reviewed before you agree to anything.
The cooling-off period
In Victoria a private sale carries three clear business days of cooling off. Withdraw in that window and you forfeit $100 or 0.2 per cent of the purchase price, whichever is greater.
It does not apply at auction, or to a property bought within three business days either side of one.
Waiving it is a genuine concession, because it converts your offer from provisional into certain. Vendors and their agents feel that difference. It is also not something to give away casually, and never before your due diligence is done.
Inclusions and chattels
What actually stays is a question, not a given.
Window furnishings, appliances, the outdoor setting, the shed contents, the ride-on mower, the pot plants, sometimes furniture. Vendors moving into something smaller frequently do not want to pay to move things they no longer have room for, and will leave good items behind if asked. It costs them nothing and can save you thousands in the first month.
Almost nobody asks.
Works and repairs before settlement
If something needs doing, it can be done before settlement rather than after, at the vendor cost or shared.
This is worth more than the equivalent money in most cases, because the alternative is you organising trades in a house you have just moved into, while also moving in.
On a new build, the finishes themselves
If the builder is still involved, there is a second negotiation sitting behind the first one, and it is not about money at all.
We used this in West Footscray. Our clients were two doctors relocating from Townsville who had never seen the property. We bought it before auction at $935,000, inside a quoted range of $900,000 to $990,000. Then we negotiated additional inclusions with the builder at no extra cost, including a kitchen island bench and several other changes, so the home was finished the way they wanted before they arrived. Read the case study.
They were starting new jobs in a new city. Not having to organise trades in their first month was worth considerably more than the same work done later, and it cost them nothing.
Access before settlement
Getting in to measure, quote, plan a renovation or start work early. Low cost to a vendor who has already moved out, genuinely useful to a buyer with trades to book.
What none of this applies to
An auction.
Under the hammer there are no conditions, no cooling off and no terms to trade. You bid on price alone, against people you can see, in a room designed to produce exactly that. It is the one setting where the single-lever problem is unavoidable.
Which is worth knowing in advance, because it changes what a pre-auction offer is really worth, and whether you want to be in that room at all.
The point
Every one of these is something the other side might value more than you do. That is the whole basis of a trade.
If price is the only thing you are willing to discuss, the only way to win is to pay more than the next person. Everything above is a way to be the better buyer without being the more expensive one.
You can see how this plays out across our recent purchases, or read more about how we work with home buyers and first home buyers.
Frequently asked questions
What can you negotiate when buying a house besides the price?
Settlement date and length, deposit size and timing, conditions such as finance and building inspections, the cooling-off period, inclusions and chattels, repairs completed before settlement, early access, and on a new build the finishes and inclusions with the builder.
Is the settlement period negotiable?
Yes. Settlement in Victoria commonly runs 30 to 90 days, but that is convention rather than a rule. Matching a vendor preferred date is frequently worth more to them than a higher offer, particularly where they have already purchased elsewhere.
Do you have to pay a 10% deposit?
No. Ten per cent is customary, not compulsory. A smaller deposit, a split deposit or a later payment date can all be agreed. In Victoria a deposit generally cannot be released to the seller until 28 days after signing and only where the contract is unconditional.
How long is the cooling-off period in Victoria?
Three clear business days for a private sale. Withdrawing costs $100 or 0.2 per cent of the purchase price, whichever is greater. It does not apply to auction purchases or to properties bought within three business days before or after an auction.
Can you negotiate with the builder on a new build?
Often yes. Where the builder is still engaged there is a second negotiation covering inclusions, finishes and changes, separate from the price negotiation with the vendor.
Can you negotiate terms at auction?
No. An auction is price only, with no conditions and no cooling off. Terms become negotiable again if a property passes in, or before the auction if the vendor will consider an early offer.
