So if a house is listed for 350k how much

would be your lowest first offer?

-when it's a regular sale(meaning the owners are selling with the help of an agent)
-when it's bank owned

I am just curious , bc my friend and her boyfriend just saw a house today in NJ listed for 350 000 (not bank owned) , they like the house , he wants to offer 280 000 and go up to 305 000 max.
I told her I'm not sure if that's too low or not, but they think in this market they should be able to get a great deal and get exactly what they want.
This is the 3rd person I spoke to who has no problem offering really low. One of my friends just bought a house 2 weeks ago it was listed for 280 000 they offered 199 000 and got the house for 210 000 (not bank owned)
I am wondering if DH and I are doing something wrong,lol.

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

It's really hard to say without knowing the specifics on the house and the neighborhood - being able to judge how much the house is worth.

In your friend's case though, 280 is WAY lower than 350, and I probably wouldn't feel comfortable bidding that low. If they want to spend less than 305, that's fine, they're entitled to offer whatever they want and maybe they really will get a deal out of it, but they have to realistically be prepared to have their offer rejected too.

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

Yeah it’s definitely tough to say. It really depends on the seller and the comps in the neighborhood. The house we are buying was originally listed at $369,900. They then lowered the price to $345,900 (before we even looked at it). This is what the price was when we asked to see it. Over the weekend (between setting up the appt and seeing it) they lowered the price again to $329,900. (they had it listed for about 8 months before we saw it) We were originally thinking of offering $300K, knowing that they had just lowered the price. Our realtor called the listing agent to feel it out and found out that they were pretty close to their bottom having lowered the price twice. We were comfortable paying up to the asking price, based on the house and the area. We decided to go in at $310K instead of $300K, since we knew they weren’t going to budge much. They countered at $320K and basically said that was their bottom. We accepted the $320K.

Point of the story is it really depends on the history of the listing of the house (has the price dropped already, or is it currently overpriced? Is the seller desperate?), the area, and the house itself. If the price had remained at $345,900 and not been lowered, we would still have offered the same $310K which would have been about 10% less than the asking price, and around $320K was what we judged was a fair price for the house.

That being said, on a $350K price I probably wouldn’t have been comfortable going below $300K unless it was really overpriced—but in our area, real estate isn’t really declining like it is in some areas….this is all based on a normal seller, not bank owned…that’s a whole other ballgame!

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

Totally depends on the comps. We paid asking for our house (we are closing next week). You can't just say a certain percent lower is fair...

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

That's very low ball. Their offer may not even be considered at all. There is a fine line between comps in the area and insulting a seller just because someone wants a great deal.

How long has the house been on the market?

If comparable houses sell for $330-$360 then a starting bid of $315-320 is reasonable but most likely they would have a counter offer anyway. But dropping $70K off a house, just because, is really not a serious offer unless you did she did her research on the local market and that's what the house is really worth.

ETA: a lot of bank owned houses are usually not overpriced. If the bank is part of this deal they may not accept such low offers. Is this a short sale?

Message edited 4/13/2009 2:11:10 PM.

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

DH and I will put in (if we find a home) a very low bid in anticipation of what will be happening in the next couple years. they can put in a low bid, if it's rejected move on to the next house.

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

its about 20% less than the asking price and actually not bad- you can always go up, but you cant go down

I had a client last year offer $150,000 less than the asking price- while the offer wasnt considered, the seller still countered

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

Posted by MrsFab

its about 20% less than the asking price and actually not bad- you can always go up, but you cant go down

I had a client last year offer $150,000 less than the asking price- while the offer wasnt considered, the seller still countered

Re: So if a house is listed for 350k how much

always 10% LESS then list.