putting in an offer ?

how much lower then the asking price should/could you offer?

thanks

Re: putting in an offer ?

Depends on how reasonable the asking price is.

You need to do your research and find out what the house is WORTH. If the owners want a quick sale, they very well might have priced it at or close to what it's worth. You would offer close to the asking price. If they're content to stay there for a year and feel out the market to see if there are any nibbles, they might have priced it well above what it's worth. In that case, offering a little less than it's worth would mean offering well below asking price.

Look at what other nearby houses of the same size and same condition sold for in the past 3 months. That'll give you a ballpark figure of how much the house is worth. Go from there. And if you really love the house, and really want it, be wary of friends and colleagues who tell you, "it's a buyer's market. Lowball 'em!" We did that with the first house we bid on, offered WAY less than asking price and WAY less than it was worth and the owner gave us a flat-out no, no counter offer.

GOOD LUCK! It's a scary process but so rewarding in the end!

Re: putting in an offer ?

really really depends. the first house we bid on was a POS - terrible condition, asking way over what it was worth. We bid 90k below.

the second house we bid on - in excellent condition, asking a bit over what it was worth in this market. after much research, we bid 60k below the asking price. we're getting the house (closing on tuesday) at 49k below the asking price.

Re: putting in an offer ? i couldnt have said it better than Dava! get your Realtor on the ball get all sold homes of similar size, within 1.5 miles of your house, and within the same town and schoo

Re: putting in an offer ?

It really does depend on the house and comps in the area. We were looking at a home listed for $340k, which was just about right for the size and area. We were going to offer $320k, but the morning we were about to make the offer the asking price dropped to $308k. We offered $290 and agreed on $300k with them having the underground oil tank abandoned before closing (in contract now).

I did some research during that time, and it turned out the mother/homeowner had recently passed away and it was her three kids selling the house. There was no money owed on the home, so it was essentially pure profit for the kids. We had a feeling they just wanted to sell fast and we were right.

Propertyshark.com and Zillow.com are pretty great resources, and listingbook.com will show you recent sales in the area.

Re: putting in an offer ?

Listingbook is good. Zillow is good for some things, but the comparables it uses are too broad for their numbers to be accurate.

Re: putting in an offer ?

Re: putting in an offer ?

it really depends on the neighborhood / comps/ and condition of the house. ask your realtor to provide comps

Re: putting in an offer ?

thank you!
We were planning on waiting till next spring/summer but if something comes up we are willing to buy. We really love this one house but feel the property is small for the price.

I have a Listingbook account and we search Zillow and mlsli, I am going to check out
PropertyShark.

Wow bear - 49k less then the listing price that is good to know

Message edited 10/10/2010 11:01:32 PM.

Re: putting in an offer ?

Are you working with a realtor? They should be able to guide you in the right direction. I think the general rule is do not go less than 10% below asking price but it also depends on how long it has been on the market etc...