How to entice seller to take semi-low offer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only way to make it more enticing is to raise it.

I'd raise mine a little. You were dumb to offer the highest you were willing to pay as an opening offer. Does no one understand the basics of bargaining any more?

Or what, the cartoonish version of meeting in the middle? Uh, I offered 750k on a 760k listing, and we settled on 755k? Win one for the realtors. That’s fake bargaining — kabuki theater.

Sure but that's the way it is done. You don't have to like it.

I doubt very much OP offered 10 grand lower on a 760 offering. If he did this thread wouldn't exist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only way to make it more enticing is to raise it.

I'd raise mine a little. You were dumb to offer the highest you were willing to pay as an opening offer. Does no one understand the basics of bargaining any more?

Or what, the cartoonish version of meeting in the middle? Uh, I offered 750k on a 760k listing, and we settled on 755k? Win one for the realtors. That’s fake bargaining — kabuki theater.

Sure but that's the way it is done. You don't have to like it.

I doubt very much OP offered 10 grand lower on a 760 offering. If he did this thread wouldn't exist

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only way to make it more enticing is to raise it.

I'd raise mine a little. You were dumb to offer the highest you were willing to pay as an opening offer. Does no one understand the basics of bargaining any more?

Or what, the cartoonish version of meeting in the middle? Uh, I offered 750k on a 760k listing, and we settled on 755k? Win one for the realtors. That’s fake bargaining — kabuki theater.

Sure but that's the way it is done. You don't have to like it.

I doubt very much OP offered 10 grand lower on a 760 offering. If he did this thread wouldn't exist

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

Just curious, if your final offer is 4% off the asking price (e.g. $28K below a $700K list price), then what in the world was your original offer? -4% is already pretty lowball for a final bid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only way to make it more enticing is to raise it.

I'd raise mine a little. You were dumb to offer the highest you were willing to pay as an opening offer. Does no one understand the basics of bargaining any more?

Or what, the cartoonish version of meeting in the middle? Uh, I offered 750k on a 760k listing, and we settled on 755k? Win one for the realtors. That’s fake bargaining — kabuki theater.

Sure but that's the way it is done. You don't have to like it.

I doubt very much OP offered 10 grand lower on a 760 offering. If he did this thread wouldn't exist

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

Just curious, if your final offer is 4% off the asking price (e.g. $28K below a $700K list price), then what in the world was your original offer? -4% is already pretty lowball for a final bid.

If the property doesn't have another bid, then the property is overpriced. A "lowball" offer than is accepted is the right price for that property. If it wasn't, someone would be paying more, amiright?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only way to make it more enticing is to raise it.

I'd raise mine a little. You were dumb to offer the highest you were willing to pay as an opening offer. Does no one understand the basics of bargaining any more?

Or what, the cartoonish version of meeting in the middle? Uh, I offered 750k on a 760k listing, and we settled on 755k? Win one for the realtors. That’s fake bargaining — kabuki theater.

Sure but that's the way it is done. You don't have to like it.

I doubt very much OP offered 10 grand lower on a 760 offering. If he did this thread wouldn't exist

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

Just curious, if your final offer is 4% off the asking price (e.g. $28K below a $700K list price), then what in the world was your original offer? -4% is already pretty lowball for a final bid.

If the property doesn't have another bid, then the property is overpriced. A "lowball" offer than is accepted is the right price for that property. If it wasn't, someone would be paying more, amiright?

Depends on the market and how long the property has been on the market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

Just curious, if your final offer is 4% off the asking price (e.g. $28K below a $700K list price), then what in the world was your original offer? -4% is already pretty lowball for a final bid.

If the property doesn't have another bid, then the property is overpriced. A "lowball" offer than is accepted is the right price for that property. If it wasn't, someone would be paying more, amiright?

This is true in seller's markets. However, there are some neighborhoods where people are just not looking and you are waiting for buyers to consider the neighborhood. The OP said that this was not the DC area and outside of bigger housing markets, homes can sit for a while when buyers are not considering the neighborhood. Comps are the best indicator of the value of the home rather than trying to second guess the market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

Just curious, if your final offer is 4% off the asking price (e.g. $28K below a $700K list price), then what in the world was your original offer? -4% is already pretty lowball for a final bid.

If the property doesn't have another bid, then the property is overpriced. A "lowball" offer than is accepted is the right price for that property. If it wasn't, someone would be paying more, amiright?

This is true in seller's markets. However, there are some neighborhoods where people are just not looking and you are waiting for buyers to consider the neighborhood. The OP said that this was not the DC area and outside of bigger housing markets, homes can sit for a while when buyers are not considering the neighborhood. Comps are the best indicator of the value of the home rather than trying to second guess the market.

No - it's true in all markets. Buyer(s), sellers, house, location, comps, time of year, interest rates, economy - they are all in constant motion. The price of a house is likely different in the spring than the fall, different on a busy street vs quiet, and so on. On that day, when a seller accepts a 'lowball' offer, that's the value of the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Op here, I offered 4% off the asking price.

Just curious, if your final offer is 4% off the asking price (e.g. $28K below a $700K list price), then what in the world was your original offer? -4% is already pretty lowball for a final bid.

If the property doesn't have another bid, then the property is overpriced. A "lowball" offer than is accepted is the right price for that property. If it wasn't, someone would be paying more, amiright?

This is true in seller's markets. However, there are some neighborhoods where people are just not looking and you are waiting for buyers to consider the neighborhood. The OP said that this was not the DC area and outside of bigger housing markets, homes can sit for a while when buyers are not considering the neighborhood. Comps are the best indicator of the value of the home rather than trying to second guess the market.

No - it's true in all markets. Buyer(s), sellers, house, location, comps, time of year, interest rates, economy - they are all in constant motion. The price of a house is likely different in the spring than the fall, different on a busy street vs quiet, and so on. On that day, when a seller accepts a 'lowball' offer, that's the value of the house.

If the seller accepts the offer. If. Not when.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they don't have to sell. Our neighbor refused to sell his home until he got a full price offer. He got several offers, even some just a few thousand below but he declined all of them until he got a full priced offer almost one year later. I thought it was crazy especially since he had a ton of equity in his home.

[Anonymous]

The redfin estimate on my house is $140K more than we paid earlier this year, and the house was on the market for over a month and had 2 price cuts before we made our offer. Redfin estimates are useless.

[Anonymous]

To answer your questions, OP:

1) Don't use Redfin estimate (or Zillow or anything online) as any sort of actual benchmark. Your agent should pull comps to justify your price and that's what you present. They may counter with other comps justifying theirs, though.

2) You're quibbling over a couple of thousand dollars. Yes, they are, too, but it means more to them than to you because the difference in a monthly payment for a couple of thousand dollars is fractional. Are you really willing to let this go over a couple of thousand dollars?

3) If you REALLY want to sweeten the deal, offer to make the home inspection all-or-none, meaning you can still walk if you don't like the home inspection results, but you're not going to negotiate for specific items on it.

4) See No. 2.

[Anonymous]

In late Spring we accepted a full price, all cash offer from a buyer who started with a low ball offer. We had three offers that first week, two at full price. After the inspection, buyer requested 15% in lowered price. House located where market not as hot as immediate D.C. area, and in basically sound condition. Buyer walked when we said no to lower price. Lesson learned? We lost two other buyers, continued carrying empty house with summer maintenance required, and market slowed down mid-summer. Lesson learned? If a buyer is a pain in the neck initially, will continue to generate drama for the seller. It's not worth it. I will never accept a lowballer's offer again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In late Spring we accepted a full price, all cash offer from a buyer who started with a low ball offer. We had three offers that first week, two at full price. After the inspection, buyer requested 15% in lowered price. House located where market not as hot as immediate D.C. area, and in basically sound condition. Buyer walked when we said no to lower price. Lesson learned? We lost two other buyers, continued carrying empty house with summer maintenance required, and market slowed down mid-summer. Lesson learned? If a buyer is a pain in the neck initially, will continue to generate drama for the seller. It's not worth it. I will never accept a lowballer's offer again.

Ah that sucks, but good lesson. My house is on the market right now.

Did the other offers also have inspection contingencies?

[Anonymous]

I don't remember, but one of the other offers probably did.

[Anonymous]

IF YOU THINK THIS HOUSE HAS MOISTURE ISSUES, YOU SHOULD WALK AWAY NOW!!!!