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OK, if you see a house, originally asked for $580, then reduced to $560, now to $510.
How much would you offer as a base to start negotiation? I mean, how much would you think is low enough, but not rediculouly low to irritate the seller? The whole town re-assessed the houses back in 05-06, when market was crazy and this one was assessed around $480.
It is not a house that I would die for, but if at the right price, I would buy. Now my problem is, I don't know what is the right price. So I have to listen to your wisdom here :-)
OK, if you see a house, originally asked for $580, then reduced to $560, now to $510.
How much would you offer as a base to start negotiation? I mean, how much would you think is low enough, but not rediculouly low to irritate the seller? The whole town re-assessed the houses back in 05-06, when market was crazy and this one was assessed around $480.
It is not a house that I would die for, but if at the right price, I would buy. Now my problem is, I don't know what is the right price. So I have to listen to your wisdom here :-)
If a house was assessed in 05-06 (Height of the market...Phantom market assessment) I would think it is worth even less. Check it's tax/deed history. I personally would do no more than $450,000 at this time.
You have to feel their situation out also. Are they getting offers,do they owe alot on the home, do they need to sell(relocating),ect. www.Propertyshark.com
Good luck.
If a house was assessed in 05-06 (Height of the market...Phantom market assessment) I would think it is worth even less. Check it's tax/deed history. I personally would do no more than $450,000 at this time.
You have to feel their situation out also. Are they getting offers,do they owe alot on the home, do they need to sell(relocating),ect. www.Propertyshark.com
Good luck.
My impression is that they need to sell as they almost empty the house. Thanks for the website!
OK, if you see a house, originally asked for $580, then reduced to $560, now to $510.
How much would you offer as a base to start negotiation? I mean, how much would you think is low enough, but not rediculouly low to irritate the seller? The whole town re-assessed the houses back in 05-06, when market was crazy and this one was assessed around $480.
It is not a house that I would die for, but if at the right price, I would buy. Now my problem is, I don't know what is the right price. So I have to listen to your wisdom here :-)
No one here can give you the "right price" on a house they haven't seen, know nothing about, and can't guess how well it meets your needs.
The town's assessment for tax purposes has little to nothing to do with the current market value of the property. One way it MIGHT be helpful is as part of a ratio; at what percentage of the assessed value have properties in this town been selling recently?
You shouldn't be worried about irritating the seller. Decide if this is a house in which you want to live. If it is, figure out what the house is worth to YOU. Make an offer. If the seller says no, so be it. Nothing personal, no insulting. A business transaction.
Good luck.
No one here can give you the "right price" on a house they haven't seen, know nothing about, and can't guess how well it meets your needs.
The town's assessment for tax purposes has little to nothing to do with the current market value of the property. One way it MIGHT be helpful is as part of a ratio; at what percentage of the assessed value have properties in this town been selling recently?
You shouldn't be worried about irritating the seller. Decide if this is a house in which you want to live. If it is, figure out what the house is worth to YOU. Make an offer. If the seller says no, so be it. Nothing personal, no insulting. A business transaction.
Good luck.
I agree that no one knows the "right price", but at least, by just looking at pure numbers, people should have a sense, if not a consensus. Often, such a general sense from general public is surprisingly close, and that is called statistics and marketing psycology.
I am not asking people here to make a decision for me. I want to hear about what number a person would think of just from looking at those numbers. In todays market, buyers have to protect ourselves. And in such an insane market, it's hard to find out what the house is really worth to ME. Truth is, we almost made an offer before the seller lowered the price and our number was higher than the now asking price. Even then, my agent was saying that our nubmer is too low. I guess every realtor will tell me the same. But I believe there is a general trend of thoughts among us buyers regarding what number a starting offer should be.
I agree that no one knows the "right price", but at least, by just looking at pure numbers, people should have a sense, if not a consensus. Often, such a general sense from general public is surprisingly close, and that is called statistics and marketing psycology.
I am not asking people here to make a decision for me. I want to hear about what number a person would think of just from looking at those numbers. In todays market, buyers have to protect ourselves. And in such an insane market, it's hard to find out what the house is really worth to ME. Truth is, we almost made an offer before the seller lowered the price and our number was higher than the now asking price. Even then, my agent was saying that our nubmer is too low. I guess every realtor will tell me the same. But I believe there is a general trend among us buyers regarding what number a starting offer should be.
This isn't meant as an argument. We still don't have enough info to give you a asense of what a good price would be. For all any of us know, the property could have been overpriced or underpriced (though underpricing isn't particularly common these days) by 10, 20, even 50%. None of us have a clue. Want a process? OK. Find the most recent sale of a property exactly the same as the one you are considering. Make adjustments for whatever minor differences there might be between that property & yours. Then find out the price trend in your area for the past several months. Is it dropping 1% per month? 1.5%? 5%? Whatever it is, multiply that by the number of months since that property sold. So if the trend is -2% per month, and it sold 3 months ago, you would have a number that is 94% of that sale price. That should be a decent guesstimate of a fair selling price of your place. Now, adjust that for whatever you know of the special circumstances. Such as, if the seller is paying a mortgage on a house he no longer lives in, and possibly on the place he lives in now. Very few people want to pay to own a house in which they don't live. Now, you and or yoru agent make a pleasant professional presentation of the offer, highlighting the positive aspects of it, and how you are offering him a way out of a situation that might just get worse.
Good luck.
And, by the way, no, not every Realtor will tell you that your offer is too low. A good many of us actually work for the best interests of our clients. If you feel your Realtor isn't doing that, you need to have a conversation with them, to fix that problem.
Ask your realtor for a list of recent closings in that area. That is the only way to see if its overpriced or not.
Diane G
Absolutely, get good comps. You can't tell that much from their original price and the drop in price since then. They could have been wildly unrealistic with the original price and could still be overpriced even now... or it could indicate a truly motivated seller... or something else.
You just can't tell until you have a very good feel from comparable sales and from other similar houses currently on the market.
This isn't meant as an argument. We still don't have enough info to give you a asense of what a good price would be. For all any of us know, the property could have been overpriced or underpriced (though underpricing isn't particularly common these days) by 10, 20, even 50%. None of us have a clue. Want a process? OK. Find the most recent sale of a property exactly the same as the one you are considering. Make adjustments for whatever minor differences there might be between that property & yours. Then find out the price trend in your area for the past several months. Is it dropping 1% per month? 1.5%? 5%? Whatever it is, multiply that by the number of months since that property sold. So if the trend is -2% per month, and it sold 3 months ago, you would have a number that is 94% of that sale price. That should be a decent guesstimate of a fair selling price of your place. Now, adjust that for whatever you know of the special circumstances. Such as, if the seller is paying a mortgage on a house he no longer lives in, and possibly on the place he lives in now. Very few people want to pay to own a house in which they don't live. Now, you and or yoru agent make a pleasant professional presentation of the offer, highlighting the positive aspects of it, and how you are offering him a way out of a situation that might just get worse.
Good luck.
And, by the way, no, not every Realtor will tell you that your offer is too low. A good many of us actually work for the best interests of our clients. If you feel your Realtor isn't doing that, you need to have a conversation with them, to fix that problem.
Thanks Bill for your advice on the process. I will try to do my homework this way.
Thanks Bill for your advice on the process. I will try to do my homework this way.
Good luck to you.
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