Question on Buying A House - How Much Do You Offer? - Do You Offer More or Less?

Hi Schulzie! I suppose everyone who answers this will have a different answer, but I can just tell you what happened in our case.

Four years ago, we found our dream home. It was perfect from the first time we laid eyes on it. The realtor said we'd probably do well to offer a bit lower and since we never bought before, we didn't know about those things so we did it.

As we were leaving the house that first day, another family came in to look at it but we still took the advice and offered less. I'll tell you, it tortured me for DAYS that we'd lose it if those other people would offer full price. Torture!

So in our case, although it worked out fine and we got the place, it would have saved us a LOT of anxiety to just offer what they were asking.

That said, sellers usually*do* come down in price for the right buyer, but no one knows if that's them or not. Today's market is bad, so you can probably get a better price.

On the other hand, I know a person who, in the scenario you mentioned, would offer $105k just to be sure he got it.

I guess what I'd say is to offer near to what they want if you would be heartbroken to lose it, but take a chance and knock some money off if you could move on and find another house if it doesn't work.

I hope you'll keep us posted on how you made out with this!

Well usually with most people I know they would offer anywhere between 7 - 15k less as thier first offer and then go closer to the advertised price after that! I do not know where you are and if that would be any different. I certaintly do not know anyone who would be willing to pay more than the asking price especially with house prices where they are now!! i should know as we are currently looking at buying a house:)

my husband and i have purchased several properties because his work requires him to be relocated in about 4-5 years.he doenst want to rent.he purchase a house then sell it when we need to move again.of course, u must gain profit from selling a property. thats the mai purpose why one buys...to sell for profit..how we do it? find out the existing lot rate in the area. i just dont know if this goes the same in your place...like in our village, lots costs,$150/square meter...our property is 300 sq mtrs...we compute.thats for the lot.then,we estimate the value of the house...so the house must be in a very good condition...we see to it the the price is reasonable but we still have profit...we have a house rented too...you can earn more if you'd rent it out,though must be very strict with rules to maintain the house well

i dont know if this will help. you need a really honest good real estate person. i got the best last time. but this is a mobile home with built on florida room. they wanted $ 29,000/ he said offer less. i offered 25. my bank stepped in and said after the appraisal and inspection it was only worth 19. and then only if they fixed a couple small things. they did and finally came down to 19. but then i found out that there was 3,000 closing! i said forget it, i cant pay that and they offered to split closing. any way, come to find out it was sitting here for 7 yrs on the market. it might help to know how long they've been trying to sell. the bad thing for me is, id had to sell a 140,000 house for 67,000. because it was a rush.:>((
not cool, huh?

I think you should always offer slightly less than the asking price. My house now I only offered 4,000 less than the asking price but I probbly could have gotten it like for 10,000 less. I wanted to offer a fair price but I could have probably offered 5,000 less and not felt guilty about it. In today's market I'm sure you could offer almost whatever you want to.

Insult the seller???

That is what real estate agents say all the time.. you don't want to insult the seller... well you got to look at the market. Today's market I'm sorry but if they want to sell their house they will have to come down on the price. You got to look at the houses listed in the area and then what they have sold for recently... a good agent will tell you what houses in the neighborhood sold for. If they don't find another agent. A lot of people selling their houses bought at the bubble when times where very good so they will not get that back many times if they must move during these hard times. You need to look at structural problems... so many times these sellers have dressed up their house to sell but I have found foundation issues and roof issues and the fact there is all old windows. You joke that you can't get a house under $100,000 but in my area you can get a very good one for that price. In fact I put an offer in for only $55,000 on one house. The house looked picture perfect with pergo flooring and new carpet and new paint on walls new tub and toilets and real clean... the down fall the foundation was starting to crumble. The roof was 20 year old, and all windows were old... It would cost me $15,000 to $20,000 to do just these main necessities and there was no way with how small a yard this house came with and the street it was on that I could get $70,000 to $75,000 out of it. If the work you see costs more than you can get after doing the work you do not want the house. It was hard to walk away because it had a lot I wanted but a lot was what I'd want to rip out anyways... they put carpet over the most beautiful wood floors and put the prego flooring above the old flooring and cut antique beautiful carved oak doors to fit it... made me want to cry. The house is still on the market today 6 months later and I still have given them the best offer they have ever gotton. Don't be pulled in by agents saying you need to jump now. They are out to make money too... this of course depends on the area you are looking in. Some areas the market is still booming but for most it is on the decline. Look on how long the average house has stayed on the market. Start at eh accessed value of a house but do keep in mind that most assessments are made based on the outward appearance. So don't think if it's assested at that that that is what it is worth... you need to be willing to walk away otherwise you will be taken advantage of.

As far as selling your house... clean is the game... no bright colors keep it neutral and staging very important. You don't want to over price your house if you want to sell now.. If you can wait to sell try for more and be open to offers... but don't be so high it will scare away buyers. Look at your area, go to other open houses and don't believe what the agents say... it's all business. Some convince their home owners that their house is worth more than it is and when they don't get it they deny offers they should have taken... like the offer I gave that the owners now asked if I would come back to it but I've moved on to better houses at what I offered them. You don't want to deny $150,000 because you wanted $155,000 just to find out 6 months down the line that no one else will offer better than $145,000. So really do the research... do not depend on agents. Bad agents are the reason why houses are staying on the market for years in my area. Always low ball when offering... They can counter... the likely hood of a second offer before you can get in the next are low in this market (again I dont' know yours), but you can always find another and I'm glad some of mine that I really had my heart set on fell through. They required too much work and I got smarter as I went along.

I would offer anywhere between $10,000 - $15,000 thousand less than the asking price. This gives you some room to increase the offer if necessary. With the market as bad as it is tight now, you may get lucky and the seller accept your first offer! Good Luck!

The answer is - it depends. If the house is 100% perfect but the market doesn't say $100K, I wouldn't offer that; if the house needs repairs, I would offer $100,000 then put in a credit request for all repairs needed. Odds are they put those up for more than it worth, so you need to know the market. If the houses in that neighborhood are selling for less, then you should offer less. If the like your offer, they will counter it.

I think you should put a budget for yourself, if it's over the budget too much, then better don't get it.

If the house condition is very good and the price just over your budget a bit, I think it's worth to buy.

You have to consider overall about the house when you buy the house.

lower of corz to save