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I can add my 2 cents, but its not much different than what others have said.
1. Ignore all other information, what they are selling, what comps are, what the market is and how much do you think the house is worth.
2. I am confused and didn't see this answer as we don't your offers, but you say they returned to $259. Did you offer less than $59, say $240 and they Said $255, theh you said $249 and they then said never mind and went back to $259? Or Did you have an offer lower than $259, then the just lowered the price to $259. I can see why they might not be able to go lower. Not all sellers negotiate, some places just put what they want for the house and will only take that, unless something dramatic happens.
3. The most important thing is it is a fair price. You still need an inspection, so who knows about the things wrong with the house, but as you know it, is it a fair price. You have the right to walk away, but don't walk away just because they won't negotiate. What if the price was $269 and through negotiations they agreed on $259, would that make you feel better because you "won" something, or got a concession?
4. Fixing things, unless it's serious many people won't fix something if you already know its broken. On the first house I sold, I knew the Back gate needed work, but I wasn't going to fix it, because it wasn't contingent on them getting a loan (ie. danger, woodrot) and I priced my house knowing about that and a few other issues, it was not a perfect house. (though it was much better than when I bought it). They called it out during the inspection, but again I didn't fix that, or replace ALL the wiring in the house (40 year old house, 40 year old wiring people). I did fix a few things and have some money back that they could fix, but I waited for the inpsection, because what if they didn't care.
Long story short.. Look at the price of the house, not at the effort to get to that price.
Wow, that's been so different from our experience. We're closing on a home next week that is owned by a relo company and got it for much less than we were willing to pay. To give quick background on ours, it was listed in August for $398, sold to the relo company in November who dropped the price to $350 and then bought by us for a final price of $328 + $3k closing costs. They've done every last repair that we've asked for as well. That being said, if you really like it and your goal is to get into a home sooner rather than later, I would take it and maybe just try to be a bit more firm on your repair requests. We would have paid more for this house and were surprised they accepted what we put out. Good luck!
My advice would be the same relo company or individual seller.
You said that there was a counter and I believe you countered their counter. Then theywent back to their original.
Even in a buyers market, people have a right to want fair value for what they are selling. If it were me, and I were lowering the listing to what I thought was a really good price and someone wanted to dicker back and forth over a few hundered bucks.... I might pull my offer back also. It may sound silly, but in my experience, people that give you a hard time when trying to come up with an initial offer can be a pain to deal with as they forget theat they may need room to negotiate repairs etc... If you want any concessions later, you should look at the process as coming up with a fair price given the market, versus trying to get the best steal of a deal.
Also, if they went up on the $$, my guess is thaey went down somewhere else. It doesn't make anysense that if the price were 259 with 3.5 and you offered 250 with 3.5 that they would go back UP to 260 and 3.5. There is a piece of info missing. Prices do not go up unless there are concessions somewhere.
End of day, if buyer or seller is being unreasonable, walk away. It will only get worse. Life is too short
Last edited by baybook; 01-21-2009 at 06:03 PM..
Reason: spelling
A marketplace is a where a buyer and a seller meet to exchange goods for goods or money for goods.
If they do not want to sell after your repeated offers, or they are playing around with terms, why not move on?
Life to too short and there are lots of houses in and around Charlotte.
Four pages of drama...
Don't buy the house. That advise is contrary to what most people that have posted here BUT my professional advise is this way of thinking:
1) Don't fall in love when any one house when there are so many available.
2) Why am I SO LUCKY that I am getting this house at this "great" price?
3) Comps, scmonks. No such thing in an unstable market. The market is the comp.The comp is the market. No offers in 6 months, that's the market!
4) You will kick your self to death if you pay the price and another sells just like it sells for a substantial discount in the next six months.
Put your best offer in writing. Suggest that you will keep looking and if the seller has a change of heart prior to you finding another house you will consider it at your price.
"You only see who is naked when the tide goes out"
Warren Buffet
We went through a similar experience in charlotte a while back. The market was not good. The house had been on the market for 3 months. We put an offer on a house and were immediately told that another offer was being made. Seemed suspicious to us. Anyway, we proceeded with negotiations and conceeded on almost everything, including a ridiculously speedy closing that was during the holiday season. It was very stressful. they wouldn't budge on their price - finally came down $3,000 (on a $565,000 home!) Said they had a full price offer but would consider ours because we offered a 6 month rent back and they had no place to go.) Then they started to refuse entry to inspectors. Bottom line - mold was found in the home. They refused to remediate it. We backed out. Very squirrely situation that cost us several thousand dollars in inspections and a lot of holiday stress. A month or so later I got a call from the other "bidder" who said she was still considering the house but admitted that her offer was no where near full price! She wondered what we had found in our inspections! Turned out this was a near foreclosure situation and why in the world these sellers were so hard to deal with I still don't know. Very, very strange transaction that never materialized for us and in the end a blessing in disguise as we decided Charlotte was not really for us! Good luck!
How often will you find a house you really like that has been reduced that much!
What a deal!
You'd be crazy to walk away.
Forget what you think you MIGHT BE losing and go for a definite WIN for you and your family!
How often will you find a house you really like that has been reduced that much!
What a deal!
You'd be crazy to walk away.
Forget what you think you MIGHT BE losing and go for a definite WIN for you and your family!
$260 large is not chopped liver. Easy for you to say with her money. LOL
$260 large is not chopped liver. Easy for you to say with her money. LOL
+1
Sounds like you quoted a realtor, sandyleasescharlottemetro.
This thread has more drama than LOST.
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