It’s a simple question. Based on what I see in the market and what clients in our office are saying – most buyers would think we’d be crazy to suggest it.
Another way to ask the question is, are you willing to pay a fair price for a good home that fits your lifestyle needs and wants? If so, what if the perfect home for you is priced fairly? Will you automatically offer $20,000 less?
It’s understandable that we don’t want to put more money on the table that we have to. The seller’s market of the early half of this decade made most buyers (pardon me) bend over and take whatever the seller wanted. The memory of multiple offers on every home still lingers – and stings some homeowners who paid $15,000 over list five years ago and are now looking at the potential of low-ball offers.
This weekend, a client wanted to see eight homes listed for sale Downtown. From the time the client and agent chose those eight and the time the agent called to schedule showings, half were sold – 50%.
Multiple offers are happening every week.
We all want a good deal, whether it’s for a new home or a new laptop. So maybe the question should be, “what’s a good deal to you?” Is it an automatic reduction of list price or a fair price for a home that fits the needs of your lifestyle?
May 13, 2008 at 12:31 pm
My experience with (many) buyers the last 18 months is that you have to find them two homes: the first one, which they really like but don’t move on fast enough, and sells while they’re deliberating; and the second one, which also meets their criteria, and they buy before someone else beats them to it. Human nature, I guess . . .
May 23, 2008 at 11:26 am
As a recent buyer I can say, in my experience, to absolutely low-ball the offer. Why pay list price when there is so much inventory in the condo market downtown? Sure it varies depending on what you’re looking for but newer 1 bedroom condos are overpriced for the dt market. 800-1000 sq feet wasn’t worth paying for 230k – for me – 200-210k is getting more reasonable.