Lowball offer on $599K house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only reason I worry about offending is because the house is across the street from us... so, while I don't know the seller, she is a neighbor.

In this case, I think that along with your lowball offer you can submit a note along the lines of, We don't mean to insult you by bidding so low, but we've been in love with your house for years now, and would be kicking ourselves if we didn't at least put in an offer, even if it is far below your price. The trick is to compliment the house without giving the impression that there's any way you'd be able to pay more than $xxx for it.

Of course, some people will be offended no matter what.

I wouldn't do this. Too emotional. Why is this the sellers problem? State that your offer is all you can afford.

I disagree that it is too emotional. Especially since this is a neighbor. Selling your house is a very emotional thing, and many people want the new owners to love their house as much as they did.

When we sold our townhouse, we sold it to someone who sent a letter with the offer, detailing what they loved about the house. Now, it was our only offer , but the couple had just been outbid on another house, and hoped this would sway their case.

When we bought our current house, our agent, when presenting our offer, descried us as a family who wanted to raise our children and make it our forever family home. The owners (themselves a couple who had raised their family in the house) took our offer over another one that was $5K higher.

[Anonymous]

My family has sold two houses in the past several years and we saw everything. It gets complicated when it's your neighbors but why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$60,000 less is too much lower. It's funny, I was thinking about starting a thread about what is a "lowball" offer.

NP here.

I disagree. 60K is 10%. We offered 15% lower than list price last year in Mont County and ended up buying the house for 10% below list.

[Anonymous]

suggest that they take a reduced fee on being the buyer and seller agent since you are unreprsented.

I see this suggested on this board all the time. This situation is one that is negotiated between the seller and the listing broker BEFORE taking the listing, not when an unrepresented buyer comes knocking at the door. So it really doesn't save anyone any money for a buyer not to have a buyer's agent giving advice and representing their interests. OP, talk to a lender at a bank, not just a mortgage broker, and talk with an agent.

[Anonymous]

I think you'd be safe bidding $540. But you should/could do a bit of research on the house first to try and determine the motivation for selling. Is the house currently empty? If not, do you know if the residents are the owners? If so, then they could be more inclined to hold tight on their price because THEY need a certain amount to be able to move. But if the house is empty or is currently being used as a rental then the owner may be in a better position to negotiate. Of course, this is all a guess...I'm just thinking in terms of probability. When I want to bid on a house I do research on the owner via the tax assessment database in the state where the house is located. You can see how much the state lists its tax assessment value, the owner's name, etc. Then you can do some googling and find out more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$60,000 less is too much lower. It's funny, I was thinking about starting a thread about what is a "lowball" offer.

NP here.

I disagree. 60K is 10%. We offered 15% lower than list price last year in Mont County and ended up buying the house for 10% below list.

Agreed - we got our seller to come down 20% (on a home which was only slightly overpriced) and we managed that in 2006, before the market crashed.