Realistically, how much can be negotiated in price?

[Anonymous]

If our budget is max $350k, is it worth looking at houses for 360,370,380 etc?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. It would be insane not to. You can make an offer for whatever you want. You never know sellers' situations.

[Anonymous]

Yes, definitely. As the PP said, you never know how much the seller needs to sell. Also a house that's been on the market for 30+ days at $380k will likely end up selling for less than that.

[Anonymous]

So how high would you go?

[Anonymous]

Depending on the expected condition of the house, I would look as high as 15%.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP - I'd look up to $400k.

[Anonymous]

I would look up to $375K for properties with DOM < 60 and up to $400K for properties with DOM > 60.

You put in an offer and then let the buyers decide whether to accept it or not. However, if you are going in at $350, then you need to make sure that your agent lets their agent know that that is your max budget, otherwise, they'll think that you are leaving room for negotiation.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I hoped to stay at $550K or less, but bid on a $575K home in a nicer zip code and school district than I'd even considered. I bid $560K and got it for that, with $1,500 back for some repairs. It appraised at $610K about six months later.

I first noticed the house when the price dropped to $599K (from original price of $650K) and jumped on it when it hit $575K.

[Anonymous]

OP again.
If it hasn't dropped at all, how long would you wait?

[Anonymous]

If priced well, the house will move in a few weeks...so if it's been on the market 30+, time for the seller to drop the price.
If the house starts at $400K, a $25K price drop is appropriate.

[Anonymous]

If the seller doesn't really need to move, they might stay at the same price for 120 days or even longer and eventually withdraw the listing without lowering the price at all. This just happened to us on a house we loved but knew was overpriced. We were waiting for the price to come down but it never did and it was withdrawn. Luck of the draw, there's no set formula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: If the seller doesn't really need to move, they might stay at the same price for 120 days or even longer and eventually withdraw the listing without lowering the price at all. This just happened to us on a house we loved but knew was overpriced. We were waiting for the price to come down but it never did and it was withdrawn. Luck of the draw, there's no set formula.

Exactly. At a $400,000 pricepoint, a $25,000 drop represents a year's worth of mortgage payments. They can afford to wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If the seller doesn't really need to move, they might stay at the same price for 120 days or even longer and eventually withdraw the listing without lowering the price at all. This just happened to us on a house we loved but knew was overpriced. We were waiting for the price to come down but it never did and it was withdrawn. Luck of the draw, there's no set formula.

Exactly. At a $400,000 pricepoint, a $25,000 drop represents a year's worth of mortgage payments. They can afford to wait.

I started a thread about a neighbor with the above attitude. She put her house on the market twice for 60 days in fall then spring. Dropped the price only 5K and found low (all?) bids 'insulting.'

You WILL get rejected OP, but its definitely worth trying! Good luck.

[Anonymous]

That could be, if they're just testing the market and don't really need to move, or need the cash from the sale. But a lot of sellers really need the cash, or are moving far away and don't want to deal with the mental energy of still having a house on the market, not knowing if it will sell. So it's always worth offering.

[Anonymous]

We looked at a house listed at $699,000. It had come down like $20,000, but we thought it was still overpriced. We discussed with our realtor that we would not offer more than $650,000. Our realtor basically told us not to waste our time and that they had been offered $650,000 a few months back and rejected it. When it finally sold, it went for $655,000. My point is, make the offer. You never know.