When you make your initial offer...

randella Posted: Jul 08, 2005 07:04 PM

When you make your initial offer...

How much lower than the asking price did you offer??

We are starting to look for a new place next weekend and thought I'd ask..

Danielle&Scott Posted: Jul 08, 2005 07:29 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

It depends on the house you are looking at. We made an offer on a property yesterday that was actually over asking, because we know that there is going to be a bidding war on this home and we want to make sure that we put in a good offer.
Scott

september2004 Posted: Jul 08, 2005 07:35 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

depends on the property - depends on what you think it's 'worth', what the current market thinks it's 'worth', and how much you really want it.

our first offer we went in i think 40-50K below asking and then inched up about 20 if i remember correctly. we felt the place was overpriced to begin with and the seller in the end was not willing to budge.

our subsequent offers came in higher if we felt the house was priced correctly. we found (and realtor's will tell you this as well) if a house is sitting around for more than a month these days, it usually is an indication that it's overpriced. in the areas we were looking the good ones went in a weekend with multiple offers and ridiculous bids.

our realtor advised us to go in 15K lower than we were willing to pay (not necessarily the listing price) and negotiate up if need be. we sometimes did that, sometimes not. the way we go our house in the end was we made an initial offer, followed by an increased 20K price with a 24 hour contingency (take it or the price goes back down to what we originally offered). it worked in our favor because the house does have some drawbacks, and because of that we felt with the approach we took we would get it over and done with and avoid a bidding war...

randella Posted: Jul 08, 2005 07:35 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Interesting-- did you look to your broker to counsel you on what the offer should be? I feel like you can't trust them since they want you to spend more $$

good luck- hope they accept your offer..

september2004 Posted: Jul 08, 2005 07:45 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Posted by randella

Interesting-- did you look to your broker to counsel you on what the offer should be? I feel like you can't trust them since they want you to spend more $$

we built a relationship with our real estate agents (we worked with a team of 2) over time but we did not look to them for counsel on offers and they initially made it clear they would not advise us. after working with them for a while they shared their opinions when asked, sometimes we agreed and sometimes we didn't. the 24 hour plan was DH's idea not something that came from the realtors.

i would take what the agents say with a grain of salt, over time you'll understand the market and build confidence in your decision making, at least that is how it worked for us...

good luck!

Sonicstef Posted: Jul 08, 2005 10:18 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Like everyone said..it depends.

I offered the asking price on one place we wanted and it still wasnt enough (and I wasnt willing to go up in price). We offered about 90% asking on the next place and they took it. Really depends on the mindset of the sellers and if you happen to catch it during a time when you dont have competition.

Bebalina Posted: Jul 08, 2005 11:16 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

DH and i always give a substantial lower asking price.... and then play the counter offer game from there, the house we're hopefully about to go into contract with we got it at 25k less then the asking price. so it all really depends

randella Posted: Jul 09, 2005 09:10 AM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Right- we can always make an initial offer- and if it is rejected cause it's too low- what's to stop us from making a higher offer..

I know I should be getting ready to be totally stressed out!

JLP Posted: Jul 09, 2005 09:25 AM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Just a thought....

We bid OVER asking price for our house and got it. The house went on the market on Wednesday, there was an open house on Sunday and all offers were being presented on Monday at the same time.

There were four offers on our house. Two at list; one $2K below list. We bid $3K over and it is the reason why we won. We LOVED the house from the minute we saw it and knew the price was good.

Use your judgement and trust your instinct!

Blu-ize Posted: Jul 09, 2005 11:12 AM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

If the house is priced right and it's what you want, I would bid as close to ask as you can. Especially if you think the house will go quickly. You can ask the realtor to pull the comps for the neighborhood to get an idea of what the homes are going for.

A house that is clearly overpriced will sit for a while if the sellers are stubborn. A lot of sellers right now are overinflating their prices thinking that the market calls for it. It really depends on the house, location and school district.

Also, a pre-approval will help you make an offer that may get looked at more than someone who doesn't have one, even if it's lower. Sellers also like a lot of cash up front but I never could understand that since they get all the money anyway.

Danielle&Scott Posted: Jul 09, 2005 11:17 AM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Posted by JLP

Just a thought....

We bid OVER asking price for our house and got it. The house went on the market on Wednesday, there was an open house on Sunday and all offers were being presented on Monday at the same time.

There were four offers on our house. Two at list; one $2K below list. We bid $3K over and it is the reason why we won. We LOVED the house from the minute we saw it and knew the price was good.

Use your judgement and trust your instinct!

This is why we bid over asking. Right now there are 2 bids on the house, and the open house is this weekend. All bids are going to be shown to the owner after the open house. We are praying that our offer gets accepted.
Scott

KimberlyBride Posted: Jul 09, 2005 06:55 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

We bid asking price. It went on the market that day and was priced to sell. We loved it and weren't taking any chances. We got it that same night and went into contract as soon as possible.

Kelly9904 Posted: Jul 10, 2005 08:23 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Posted by JLP
Use your judgement and trust your instinct!

I agree! We bid 4K under and wound up splitting the difference!
We had looked for 6 months, loved our house, felt it was reasonably priced and werent taking chances!

wintergirl06 Posted: Jul 11, 2005 06:26 AM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

We bid 29K lower, and wound up splitting the difference. Then we asked for another 1K off after the inspection (a bunch of electrical stuff needs to be done, and a couple of other little things) and got that.

Sasha96 Posted: Jul 12, 2005 07:55 AM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Like everyone said, it depends on how you feel the house is priced, and compare the price to comps in the neighborhood. Our first home we got for almost $30k under asking, the next one was $5k over. But once you have an accepted offer work to get to contract as fast as you can!

SeptemberBride03 Posted: Jul 12, 2005 02:39 PM

Re: When you make your initial offer...

Our realtor helped us decide. He showed us the comps in the area to give us an idea about what we should bid. We ended up bidding asking price and putting contingencies on it, which is why we won. We were bidding against a couple that bid the same but put no contingencies on it.