| purchasing a house - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| Blackout-spec |
ok this is for the guys that already have a place, so please dont chime in unless you actually have useful info or have some experience with purchasing houses.
i found a few places i like and am looking on putting an offer in on them. i talked to some realtor's and they make it sound as i can get most houses on the market for 15k LESS then list.
with that being said, i want to purchase a house listed for 350K. if i offered the owner say 330K, would that be too low of an offer? i know they will counter offer and we will prob end up around 340K which is what i would actually like to pay. if i offer 340K they will counter with 345K and so on.
so to you home owners, if you were selling your house, would you even look at an offer 20K less then your list price?
keep in mind with the current market now, there are 9000 houses on the market with a limited number of buyers.
as i said before, if you dont currently own a place you really cant help me with your comments. |
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| civicHB |
I just bought a condo and offered $10,000 less but ended up getting it for $5000 less. Mind you, the unit was priced well below all others and was a corner unit close to the top floor.
Offering $330 in this market is very reasonable and is not a low ball. No harm done because it's not like they are getting multiple offers any more. |
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| CKXtreme |
I would possibly entertain a 20k discrepancy (and probably split the difference), because I've made 150k on the place.
I personally think that it depends on the situation of the owner. If I was leaving Alberta (which some people are) then I think those same people would have a greater tolerance for price negotiations.
Or someone thats racked themselves mortgage poor. They may just take what they owe to get out.
One thing I wouldnt do is use the 9000 houses on the market issue. I'd ask questions about the owners circumstances and play it from there. |
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| Blackout-spec |
^yah i tried to play that and find out if they are in a rush or what not. i know it depends on the place and how it is priced being high or very low.
i just dont want them to take my offer and toss it because its way to low and not even consider it. the house was listed about 2 weeks ago and they didnt have any signatures in their sign in book, so that is also a sign that few have looked.
i really like it, but not enough to pay asking price in a market like this. |
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| stealth |
| I think offering 20-25 k less is fine. That is what bargaining is about. And expect to settle around 10-15k less than asking. |
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| BigTrucker |
It all depends on the house. Some people price their house for a quick sale and wont move much on the price, while others have it up for sale to see if they can get what they want, but aren't in a hurry to sell.
For example, my wife and I listed our house for sale 3 months ago. We don't need a bigger house, but we wouldn't mind it and we had the opportunity to get a bigger house if we were able to sell ours. We priced it $25k below what other new houses on our street were selling it for and got tons of people walking through. We got 3 offers, all low balls. And by low ball I mean over $30k under. We didnt even bother responding to those offers as our house was aggressively priced already and there is no way I'm going that much $$$$ under market value. |
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| STiPWR |
Make whatever offer you want..... Who knows how desperate the seller is or how much of a rush they are in.
I personally would go up to 20k less than my asking price. If I were to sell my place. |
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| CKXtreme |
quote:
Originally posted by Blackout-spec
i just dont want them to take my offer and toss it because its way to low and not even consider it. the house was listed about 2 weeks ago and they didnt have any signatures in their sign in book, so that is also a sign that few have looked.
i really like it, but not enough to pay asking price in a market like this.
Submit the offer and go from there. Dont get emotionally caught up in it. Think of it as a business decision. You want a particular good/service, at what you feel is a fair price. The worst that happens, they say no, you'll hear back within 2-3 days, and you can either move your asking price, or walk away (hence why you dont want emotions involved). The best case scenario is they say yes, and you move on to close the deal.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and try to use sound judgment. |
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| ehos |
Rule #1, NEVER EVER trust a realtor. They are there to show you houses in your ideal price range, desires etc etc. Don't ever feel sorry for them because they have millions of tricks to make you close a deal fast. It's not in a Realtors interest to get you a 'good' deal, he's there to close asap and collect commissions.
Having said that, make lowball offers in a buyers market (which it is now). I would go 300K on a 350K house. If you realtor balks at making such an offer, get another realtor.
And don't go for the 'split the difference' nonsense, or 'it's only 2 thousand dollars, do you really want to let the house go for that little amount'? etc etc. Lots of these lines they practice.
You're buying so you're not as bad off as the seller (you don't pay commission), but you can still negotiate amazing deals in this market.
Rule 2, see lots of houses, make lots of offers and be willing to walk away! If you (or worse) your wife falls in love with a house, watch out.
The market isn't really stable as it is now, so the price you pay (ex 300K) might still devalue. You can use that to negotiate a good price (some houses lost over 33% of their price in less than 9 months!).
Great time to buy, lots of deals. I feel for the guys who bought 4-500K houses that are worth 350K now (or worse). Buy when everyone is selling and inventory is probably the highest it's ever been in Edmonton. But don't be delusional, you can't buy a decent house for 200K (still). Don't buy a condo or anything for that matter in a 'shitty' area, you will regret that for many years. Location is still #1 and people forgot that when they bought half a million dollar homes in the North East or worse. |
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| Blackout-spec |
well so far i have found a house on comfree and a house on MLS. we dont have a realtor, we have just been searching MLS and finding what we like then call the realtor of that property. The area im actually looking in is north east because i work in ft. saskatchewan. im so sick of driving across the city taking an hour one way to get to work. but were staying as far from clairview as we can due to trouble etc. were mainly looking in the Brintnell neighborhood as its newer and far enough from clairview.
i agree realtors are not there to help you, everytime i call one they are rude, and piss me off how they list houses so poorly.
i would never use a realtor to sell my house, as myself i would much prefer to buy through comfree where you are dealing with the owner!
i dont know if i would go as far to offer 50K less on a house thats only worth 350K to begin with. i dont think there are a lot of buyers and im going to play that chip.
thanks for the good tips so far! keep em coming. |
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| Talon_66 |
When I purchased my house,
I offered 30k under asking price, they countered with 10k under. I countered back with 27k under. They came back at 15k under. And I made a final offer of 25k under, and they accepted.
Ask the realtor how long the place has been on the market, has the seller dropped the price at all during that time?
Look at other places in the same area, and see what people are asking. Compare.
I had a great realtor, she told me how many days the house was on the market, and what they first listed it at. She adviced me as to what I should offer. |
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| TrevorK |
I never had to purchase a house through a realtor, however I would strongly recommend going in low on the house with a different realtor.
Why a different realtor? Simple, the realtor, when representing the buyer and seller is not supposed to give advice to either party. The amount realtors are willing to drop their commission is very little, so I don't think going with the same with will make a large difference.
If the house is on the market for a long period of time, any decent realtor will explain to their clients their options BEFORE rejecting your offer. Most likely they will tell your clients "You haven't received an offer yet", "This is what the market will bear", "If you want to wait it out feel free, however this may be the best for the current market",etc....
Be logical, list your reasons why you are offering what you are and why you feel your offer is reasonable. With houses taking this long to sell they would be foolish to just turn away your offer without a counter (even if it's only a couple thousand under what they are asking). Make your realtor work for you, they are being paid thousands when purchasing a house. And whatever you do, don't sign a buyer's agreement. |
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| Silverbane |
I bought a 1 bedroom + den condo this week. It was listed at $174,900, I offered $165,000 and we split at $169,300.
I know it is cheap, but i bought what I could afford on my own now. |
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| AudiInProgress |
quote:
Originally posted by BigTrucker
It all depends on the house. Some people price their house for a quick sale and wont move much on the price, while others have it up for sale to see if they can get what they want, but aren't in a hurry to sell.
For example, my wife and I listed our house for sale 3 months ago. We don't need a bigger house, but we wouldn't mind it and we had the opportunity to get a bigger house if we were able to sell ours. We priced it $25k below what other new houses on our street were selling it for and got tons of people walking through. We got 3 offers, all low balls. And by low ball I mean over $30k under. We didnt even bother responding to those offers as our house was aggressively priced already and there is no way I'm going that much $$$$ under market value.
Good advice! |
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| Blackout-spec |
well ive been looking at houses a lot and i keep seeing more and more houses drop their prices by a total of 25K or more since a month or 2 ago.
i was talking to some guys at work and they have a realtor friend. he was telling me this realtor has pretty much no work at all because nobody is buying and there are so many houses on the market.(like 15,000) he also told me, since nobody is buying, wait till the house is on the market for a while then offer 50k LESS then list on pretty much any house. i dont know if i would go that far but i would definatly be low balling in this market big time.
houses just are not moving, on comfree i keep seeing the same houses all the time, and they all have price reduced signs.
i think house prices are going to continue to drop for a while. i guess i can just put low offer on all the places i like and take the best one or just wait till they come down more. |
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| Graphicdude |
| My buddy who is a realtor just dropped a few clients' houses by 50K. I say, it's a bout time the market corrected itself. You are in a sweet position right now. Take full advantage of it. |
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| euro_ftw |
| our house was listed for 375,000$ in silver berry my dad offered 360,000$ and we got the house, so yah it depends on the person that u are dealing with. |
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