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Negoitating
We found a house we really liked (and could afford) about 1 1/2 weeks ago after looking at 8 other homes (in about 3 week). We made a pretty decent offer - based on the comps - and did some heavy negotiating. Our agent said the house was highly overpriced and the sellers did come down almost $20k but refused to come down another $8k to our final demand.
Now we can't come to an agreement and are at a $8k standstill!! My hubby's thoughts are he doesn?t want to overpay for a house and at our final demand we are about $4k over what our agent thinks "is the actual worth".
The house we are looking at is an estate sell where the owner has died and her kids are trying to sell it. Since our offer didn?t go thru (on Friday) , they have dropped the price $10k in the hopes of more showings. It?s been on the market since Oct and
Do you think we should wait like a week and maybe they will come back to us saying they didn?t have any other offers and are willing to accept our offer? Or should we go back now and offer to split the $8k difference? I really want this house and its hard to find something in our area at the right price. Wouldn't they want to get rid of this house if they are just wasting money on it?
**FIRST TIME MOM**
Re: Negoitating
What might happen is they get another offer slightly better than yours, realize they won't do better and take that one.
Estates can be notoriously tricky. If you really want the house and don't think you'll be able to get it out of your mind and like another house as much, I would offer the extra $4K. However, only do this if you are crazy in love with the house. Three weeks isn't that long to be looking and more will be coming on the market in the next couple of months.
We had a somewhat similar issue, although not to your extent. We loved the house, thought they were a little high, but not a crazy amount of high, maybe like $10k over the max we would pay for the house. We put in an offer of $20k below asking (so $10k below the max we would pay) and they came down like $4k. We came up quite a bit, and they barely moved at all.
We went back and forth a few times, until we were arguing over $1,500. Seriously. They were being so damn stubborn over $1,500. I was almost ready to pay it, but our realtory said we should not pay over our max, because he truly didn't think the house was worth that much. (that had been our thought also) Our realtor let them know we were thinking over their last counter, but that he was going to continue looking for houses for us. They called him back like 15 mins later and accepted our last offer.
So sometimes walking away (or threatening to) can work. But at the end of the day I'm glad we stuck to our guns because I would be bitter if we were paying more than what I thought the house was truly worth. I still feel like we are on the max end of the prices for the house-it is a fair price, but I think in this market we maybe should have gotten a discount. I am ok with it though, because I do feel the price is fair.
If you are looking at the comps and you just can't see the house being worth that much, I don't know that I would buy it. It's easy to get emotional about a house. Believe me I know. But I also tried really hard to see it as an investment and to not get something unless I really believed it was worth it.
I know this is so right but after looking around in the areas that we like, all the newer homes are so expensive. Unless one that is in the same developement as this one goes on sale, I don't think we are going to find something we like. Everything else is so old and we don't like old.
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They might not be wasting money on it if it's an estate sale. It could be completely paid off and all they have to do is cover the property taxes while they try to sell it.
If you really like it and the only thing you're worried about is overpaying, why don't you accept their offer but make it contingent on appraisal so if it comes back under the sale price, you can renegotiate or walk away.
agree with pp RE: the appraisal contingency
My R/E agent said that estates are notoriously tricky, because they have to come to consensus amongst siblings, and as my agent put it, "this is their big windfall". With that being said, if you love the house that much, $4K doesn't come out to much on a 30 year mortgage. If you've stepped away from it and are still thinking about it a lot, trust your instincts. Good luck!
Good luck! I would say its likely the price drop will increase traffic and maybe even an offer but it doesn't mean the offer will be better than yours. If that buyer has a good agent, their agent will tell them exactly what yours said. What you might consider is contacting the listing agent and letting him/her know that X is our final offer, its open ended and that if the seller is interested in opening the conversation in the days to come to give you a call. That way if they do get another lowball offer they will realize they should call you up and take the deal.
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