Overpriced house - lowball offer or wait?

[Anonymous]

We just looked at a house that's been on the market for about two weeks. We like it, but we believe it's overpriced by almost $100k. Should we make an offer now, or wait for the sellers to grasp reality? What are the pros and cons of each approach?

[Anonymous]

Put in an offer with escalation

[Anonymous]

Wait another month, or wait until it has been on the market for 4 months and will not sell

[Anonymous]

Someone lowballed us by like $60k (on a fairly priced listing--we wanted it to sell fast). I was insulted and wanted to just reject it outright. My realtor said to always counter. So we did. Came back with deal for $10k below list and they accepted it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put in an offer with escalation

Does escalation mean we are willing to raise our offer if they get a higher offer? How would we know they really have a higher offer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put in an offer with escalation

Does escalation mean we are willing to raise our offer if they get a higher offer? How would we know they really have a higher offer?

Yes, and you don't. You can tell your RE agent that you want proof, I guess.

[Anonymous]

We thought our neighbors house was overpriced but it sold within two weeks for just $10k less than the original asking price. Just bc you think it is overpriced doesn't men it won't sell quickly.

[Anonymous]

I would make an offer. First, you never know if someone else is going to, and who knows what the sellers might accept. Second, even if it doesn't work out, if they do lower the price later, their realtor will likely call you to see if you're still interested, so you might get an early shot.

[Anonymous]

http://franklymls.com/FX7935083

Is it this? Because it is overpriced by at least $100k. Especially because 1st floor Master will limit interest.

[Anonymous]

We submitted a fair value bid, $100k below list price and did not receive a counter offer. The house sat and sat with no other offers.
6 weeks later we submitted a bid a little bit more than last time and started discussions. Went under contract, and then the appraisal came in, exactly at our original offer price.
Got in discussions again and ended quite close to our original offer.

Nothing to lose, just keep in touch with the sellers. Try to keep the agent noise to a minimum. Boy, did they make up caricatures of the sellers and us! Start a dialog, hopefully they are reasonable and someone you want to do business with. Their expectations may be off because of their agent too, s/he may have oversold the price to them in order to get the business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://franklymls.com/FX7935083

Is it this? Because it is overpriced by at least $100k. Especially because 1st floor Master will limit interest.

wow that's pretty high for not new construction, reston and south lakes

[Anonymous]

Lowballing by $100K after only 2 weeks on the market is likely to get only a direct refusal with no counter. It is only overpriced if no one wants to purchase the house for that price. And chances are the sellers are not going to be desparate enough to negotiate that much. If it happens to be in the ideal neighborhood for another family that has the money, they may scoop it up for something like $20K below list and you'll be out. One problem with lowballing very low is that sometimes you'll actually decrease the sellers' flexibility. For example, if you come in $25K below list, then they'll negotiate and you'll probably get something about halfway between. If you lowball that much, you may find that if they negotiate at all, they will use much smaller increments than if you had come in closer to what they wanted. Last, you have no idea what the sellers owe on the property. If they owe more than you are willing to offer, then they are probably not going to come down much until it's been on the market longer (like maybe 60 days) before they'll start to drop the price. Good luck, but I find extreme lowball offers like yours to be more counterproductive than productive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://franklymls.com/FX7935083

Is it this? Because it is overpriced by at least $100k. Especially because 1st floor Master will limit interest.

That house belongs in the McMansion thread.

[Anonymous]

No, that house belongs on Miami vicE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lowballing by $100K after only 2 weeks on the market is likely to get only a direct refusal with no counter. It is only overpriced if no one wants to purchase the house for that price. And chances are the sellers are not going to be desparate enough to negotiate that much. If it happens to be in the ideal neighborhood for another family that has the money, they may scoop it up for something like $20K below list and you'll be out. One problem with lowballing very low is that sometimes you'll actually decrease the sellers' flexibility. For example, if you come in $25K below list, then they'll negotiate and you'll probably get something about halfway between. If you lowball that much, you may find that if they negotiate at all, they will use much smaller increments than if you had come in closer to what they wanted. Last, you have no idea what the sellers owe on the property. If they owe more than you are willing to offer, then they are probably not going to come down much until it's been on the market longer (like maybe 60 days) before they'll start to drop the price. Good luck, but I find extreme lowball offers like yours to be more counterproductive than productive.

All of this PLUS even if the house sits and you put in another offer they will likely just refuse it outright simply because you lowballed them before once.