does this happen? (dropping offer price)

Just wondering if this ever happens (the following is an example only)

House on the market for $680k

Buyer - we offer 620k
seller - nope, 670k
Buyer - 630k
seller - no, 660
buyer - 640k
seller - no, 650k
buyer - 640 was our max,

2 months pass

seller - ok, 640 is fine
buyer - nope, now we are back to 620

I couldnt fall asleep the other night and I thought of this scenario.

Does this usually happen, or does the buy just agree to the original 640.
or does the seller never come back after a few months?

I assume offers, etc is like a game, and for the seller to come back after 2 months (obviously they dont have a better offer), then the buyer can start to negotiate again.

Re: does this happen? (dropping offer price)

i dont know how often it happens, but it happened to my mil & fil when they sold their house in westchester last year.

they were getting divorced and wanted a certain price so they put the house on the market and got offers for much less. they countered but nothing ever panned out. a few months later they were finalizing the divorce and just needed out of the house so they contacted some of the buyers who made offers to see if any were still interested. turns out nothing worked with any of the previous people that were interested but they ended up selling at a much lower price then originally listed for

eta - i do think you can negotiate again and tell them you now can only go as high as 620
worst case you walk away from the house...again

Message edited 11/25/2013 12:38:34 PM.

Re: does this happen? (dropping offer price)

Well, I mean, you can always try to negotiate. But it takes two parties to negotiate. Whether or not the seller would be negotiable beyond $640K would depend on the particular seller and their motivation/circumstances.

And sellers can't expect that buyers will still be interested when they decide to be realistic about price, or will offer the same terms. I mean, if a seller rejects a buyer's offer of $x amount, than they have to understand that $x may not still be on the table if they go back to the buyer down the road. Buyer may still be interested, but not willing to pay x.

But I will say that, the market is becoming more competitive (and this is especially true in the $300K to $450K price range). And prices are gradually rising and there's concern about rates. So many buyers are losing out on houses due to multiple offer situations, or finding themselves wishing they had jumped on a house they had seen early on but weren't willing to make an offer on yet (or didn't come in high enough).

I've had a few situations with buyers I've worked with where the seller of a house that they were interested in did come back later and offer them the house. And in those situations, the buyers (having been more educated about the market and experienced making offers) saw it as an opportunity they wanted to jump on. They didn't try to renegotiate downward at that time. They were just happy to get the house, and it all worked out!

I guess the bottom line is, like so many parts of the house buying process -- there is just no one-size-fits-all rule.

In the original hypothetical scenario presented, I would say if the buyer liked the house, and they think it's worth $640K (and I assume they do, since they were willing to pay that a couple of months earlier), why take the risk of losing the house? If $640K is really not in their price range, or if that number isn't really supported by comparable recent sales, then obviously the buyer would want to try to negotiate (with the full understanding that the seller may say "forget it" and move on to another buyer).

Also, keep in mind, sometimes sellers have multiple back up offers or had multiple offers they rejected. So the buyer may not be in the driver's seat as much as it appears. Seller may go back to all of the previous interested buyers and see who is still willing to pay $640K.

So whether you can try to negotiate - yes, of course. Whether it's wise to do so again depends on a lot of factors, including your own situation as a buyer.