Average offer on homes in Austin? (Bowie: sale, houses, neighborhood)

[txgal78]

We just got a similar 1st offer - $70k less than asking (and its in the $500-$600k range) for a house in mint condition. We ended up negotiating back up, closer to our end than their original offer. Our realtor mentioned that buyers these days are just looking for a steal and know they can offer low and still be in the game.

[Taterhead]

Originally Posted by txgal78

We just got a similar 1st offer - $70k less than asking (and its in the $500-$600k range) for a house in mint condition. We ended up negotiating back up, closer to our end than their original offer. Our realtor mentioned that buyers these days are just looking for a steal and know they can offer low and still be in the game.

Yes it makes me sick, we wouldn't do that to someone that had a beautiful home and was priced right. Ours is listed at 439. I hope they aren't flippers, I don't think they are. It is what it is, and we'll know soon enough if we're Austin bound.

Debbie

[hound 109]

417K is a magic number for mortgages.

Some offers (on homes above that amount) might be a reflection of this.

Some folks have alot of cash to put down & some folks don't.

What is your realtor telling you? If i had a home listed for only 2 weeks, I wouldn't sweat it (& I wouldn't let anything make me sick). All offers are good. Counter by dropping your price by $100 .

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by Taterhead

Yes it makes me sick, we wouldn't do that to someone that had a beautiful home and was priced right. Ours is listed at 439. I hope they aren't flippers, I don't think they are. It is what it is, and we'll know soon enough if we're Austin bound.

Debbie

& after thinking about this.....offering 60K less is exactly how they're getting to the the 417K number.

Offer 60K less so they end up at 25K-30K less than listing. (after the negotiating).

439K - 30K = 409K (+ closing costs & escrows = 417K).


You just need to hold off until someone with cash to put down comes around.

[Exiled Texan]

Negotiate with them.

My place was PERFECTLY staged. People would awe at it. I too, was asked if I thought about staging as a career.

Got an initial offer that I ignored because it "was too insulting." Went into contract 5 months later BELOW that initial offer.

I won't even tell you the "rest of the story" it is too depressing.

[centralaustinite]

Definitely counter offer!

Our home was professionally staged, the windows were professionally washed, the sidewalk and driveway professionally power-washed, the landscape was freshened and new sod was put down and we had several agents tell us our house was well-priced this summer.

Oh, and our initial price was 20K below a WTF price on our block for a smaller house.

We had a steady stream of showings, multiple second and third showings, we lowered the price two times. Never got an offer.

Some of it was the rapidly deteriorating global financial situation this summer (we gave up after Lehman's collapsed) but we were in a declining market and didn't fully realize it fast enough. (The neighbor's WTF priced house didn't sell either).

Look at what is pending. That is the most current information. Look for comparable PENDING houses.

The issue of a jumbo mortgage (over 417K) may be important in your situation, and generally banks are stricter right now about loans (higher deposits, solid work history, great credit).

Some neighbors want to know if we are going to put our house back on the market, I tell them that they don't want me to! We have tons of equity and can sell this house for 40% less than our last asking price and still walk away with money in our pocket if we absolutely had to -- we would be the "comp killer."

good luck!!

[Jennibc]

Well, right now we are actively looking in the southwest suburbs of Austin and I am watching what houses list at what they sell for pretty closely. Today a house closed that started at $310 (when we looked at it) dropped to 299 about a month ago, went under contract and closed with a selling price at 290. Another house priced at 319 closed for 300 the other day, but I've seen other houses that were priced at 339 close at 336 so I don't think there are any generalizations to be made here.

We saw a house that we liked a little over a week ago, put in a final offer at just under 5% lower than asking (the house has only been on the market a month) because the comps supported a 5% lower price but the sellers wouldn't budge. Alright, they would budge but only would come down .006. So we walked away. A similar house went on the market last Friday (size, age, condition and the list was 315, it is now pending. I imagine they got list or fairly close to it to accept an offer within a three days of being on the market. Why did that house move so fast? It was 14K less than the one we put an offer in on. We would have considered it but there were no bedrooms on the first floor.

Our initial offer on the house we wanted was actually about 8% lower than list but any good negotiator knows that you have to start low because you need to meet in the middle. I don't know whether the homeowners were insulted or not, and I really don't care. I figure it's better to risk insulting them to get the best possible price on a home - it's an arm's length transaction after all.

What's really interesting is what houses are going for when purchased directly from the builder down here. We've seen several in Meridian close from anywhere from 30K to 40K off the list price and those houses were priced in the low 300s so in some cases they are going for 15% off.

[austin-steve]

There is no norm. In general, buyers think the market is worse than it really is and sellers don't like to admit that the market is softer than they think it is. $60K below doesn't surprise or shock me. And it doesn't tell you if the buyers are flakes or if they are really serious but just starting real low.

I wouldn't worry about the offer amount. It's an offer and that's good. Just counter-offer based on whatever advice your Realtor gives you.

Good luck,

Steve

Steve

[gpurcell]

The dollar amount of the offer is really rather irrelevent--it it the percentage that is telling. No homeowner should ever be insulted by an initial offer that is 5 to 10 percent below their asking price. And in this market if you're trying to sell a tract home in an area with a lot of inventory, you shouldn't be insulted by an offer 15 to 20 percent below asking.

[cls88]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Well, right now we are actively looking in the southwest suburbs of Austin and I am watching what houses list at what they sell for pretty closely. Today a house closed that started at $310 (when we looked at it) dropped to 299 about a month ago, went under contract and closed with a selling price at 290. Another house priced at 319 closed for 300 the other day, but I've seen other houses that were priced at 339 close at 336 so I don't think there are any generalizations to be made here.

How did you find out about the final sell price? We are trying to find the sell prices for the houses in our neighborhood for comps. But our realtor only could give us the listing prices. Do you have to go to the county records to get the final sell price? Thanks.