Making a low ball offer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The market has slowed in DC. I am not sure if it is due to the holidays but i have noticed a few nice renovations that are sitting with no offers. I went to an open house recently and the developer stated that they might have to rent out a few because they can't get "their price."

What neighborhood are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Do it. We put a lowball offer on a house that listed for 1.2 million. 1 million. It was accepted with a contingency.

[Anonymous]

I would say go for it but I think the differentials listed here are a little extreme. we went 50k under once and had our offer accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do it. We put a lowball offer on a house that listed for 1.2 million. 1 million. It was accepted with a contingency.

Was the sale of current house contingent on purchasing new house?

[Anonymous]

Last year this time we put a bid 5% below asking for a house that had been sitting for two months. Sellers countered, and we ended up about 4% below asking. I agree with PP who says use your agent to feel them out before low-balling. Turned out our sellers had gotten burned on an earlier offer and were gun-shy, so I think if we had come in too low they might have rejected outright.

Great house, appraised above asking.

[Anonymous]

Do it - as long as the comps support your low ball offer. Our current house, we bid something like $410 and the house was listed at $475 (sold for $425). The seller's agent said they were going to make a price adjustment and had no offers in 7 months. We bought when the market was bottoming out and the sellers hadn't accepted the value just wasn't there anymore. And EVERYTHING was original to 1960 so the house neede a lot of work. As long as you can support why your price makes sense, then do it.

[Anonymous]

Do it if

1) your "low" offer is based on your research of the comps and an acknowledgement that based on the comps, the seller has the house overpriced

2) you are serious about the deal going through and show that by a higher earnest money deposit, meeting seller on dates of contingencies and settlement, etc.


We "low balled" an offer earlier this year on the house we now live in. We offered in September after house had sat for over 3 months. Sellers had some bad real estate advice I believe, and overpriced far and above the comps and while they continued to drop their price, they kind of screwed themselves with their initial overpricing. We offered about 9% below the then-list price which actually some would argue is not a low ball offer, though it was about 25% below their initial list price the 3 months earlier.

We offered that 9% below estimating that we would end up meeting in the middle, the price at which we felt the house was worth based on the comps. Indeed we did end up in the middle with essentially both parties satisfied - about 5% below then-list price after accounting for money back at closing. We had all the standard contingencies AND we had a VA loan.

Another thing in our favor - we were absolutely willing to walk away from the house if the contract price wasn't right. Our agent made that clear to their agent, and I suspect we were their only offer over the course of that 3 months.

Again, low ball offers shouldn't be made simply because you can't afford or just want a house for less money, but rather because the research on the comps is telling you that the house is overpriced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do it if

1) your "low" offer is based on your research of the comps and an acknowledgement that based on the comps, the seller has the house overpriced

2) you are serious about the deal going through and show that by a higher earnest money deposit, meeting seller on dates of contingencies and settlement, etc.


We "low balled" an offer earlier this year on the house we now live in. We offered in September after house had sat for over 3 months. Sellers had some bad real estate advice I believe, and overpriced far and above the comps and while they continued to drop their price, they kind of screwed themselves with their initial overpricing. We offered about 9% below the then-list price which actually some would argue is not a low ball offer, though it was about 25% below their initial list price the 3 months earlier.

We offered that 9% below estimating that we would end up meeting in the middle, the price at which we felt the house was worth based on the comps. Indeed we did end up in the middle with essentially both parties satisfied - about 5% below then-list price after accounting for money back at closing. We had all the standard contingencies AND we had a VA loan.

Another thing in our favor - we were absolutely willing to walk away from the house if the contract price wasn't right. Our agent made that clear to their agent, and I suspect we were their only offer over the course of that 3 months.

Again, low ball offers shouldn't be made simply because you can't afford or just want a house for less money, but rather because the research on the comps is telling you that the house is overpriced.

If you're not set on getting that house why not put a line out and see if you get a bite regardless of whether it's supported? Most available comps will be from summer months when demand is higher; which, I suppose makes them not really comps. Maybe you get someone who needs to sell ASAP for whatever reason and they take your offer. If they say no, you just go back to looking around, nothing lost.

[Anonymous]

How many percent below asking is considered low balling?

[Anonymous]

We offered 11% under asking price and got it after property was sitting for less than 3 weeks (in NW DC). You never know.

[Anonymous]

I offered 30% below and ended up settling at 23% below list. House had been sitting empty for 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do it. We offered $700k on a house for $980k. They balked. A month later I came back and offered $750k. They accepted. House was worth $875 or so.

What is this based on? A house in only worth what somebody pays for it. So, in your case, $750K.

not true. We bought out house as a short sale and it appraised for $50K more. Based on what houses are currently selling for in our neighborhood we could eaily sell it for $100K more than we paid 2 yrs ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do it. We offered $700k on a house for $980k. They balked. A month later I came back and offered $750k. They accepted. House was worth $875 or so.

What is this based on? A house in only worth what somebody pays for it. So, in your case, $750K.

not true. We bought out house as a short sale and it appraised for $50K more. Based on what houses are currently selling for in our neighborhood we could eaily sell it for $100K more than we paid 2 yrs ago.

PP here. Yes, it is true. Our house also appraised for 40K more than what we paid, and despite the fact that we even got two appraisals which both were high, I don't delude myself into thinking that my house was actually worth that price at that particular point in time. Two years later is irrelevant (my house appraised for 120K over what I paid three years after I bought it). At any given point in time, a house is only worth what somebody paid for it.