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"Lowball" is a subjective term that is not particularly useful. There are situations where a buyer is aware of information about a property that justifies the buyer's offer price. This information may not be known to the buyer's agent at the time the initial offer is made and there may be good reasons why the buyer chooses to not disclose the information at the time the initial offer is made. This may lead to some buyer's agents becoming frustrated, but they need to understand that they may not be aware of all of the information that the buyer is considering in determining the offer price.
I was asking this for a couple of reasons. One is that I'm the seller and was low balled. Our home is priced lower than market value in hopes to sell quicker (could have made them think we were desperate?), and I was curious as to how agents handle this since I plan on getting my real estate license once we move out of state.
House is listed at 399K, was offered 326K after being told every day for a week by their buyers agent to expect an offer the next day and how interested they were in the property. I wonder if their agent knew what their offer would be, did she attempt to educate them on the values around the area and show them comparables. When I first heard the offer, my first response was .... "is it a typo?"
I know your frustration. If they don't accept your counter try to move on, and hold tight. You might request for your agent to put "firm price" in your listing description....hopefully that will cut out the lowballers.
I had one prospect that I told my price was firm, she did three viewings, brought two contractors over to get bids for improvements she wanted to make, etc.....and then made an offer $100k below my asking. People are unreal.
I know your frustration. If they don't accept your counter try to move on, and hold tight. You might request for your agent to put "firm price" in your listing description....hopefully that will cut out the lowballers.
I had one prospect that I told my price was firm, she did three viewings, brought two contractors over to get bids for improvements she wanted to make, etc.....and then made an offer $100k below my asking. People are unreal.
I'm definitely not holding my breath for these buyers. They acted so interested, asked tons of questions about the house and property and every day of last week, their agent told mine to expect an offer and then they came with that offer Friday night. I just wonder what are buyers thinking throwing out numbers like that. Are they testing us to see how low we would counter? There is no way they thought it would be seriously considered. Their offer and silence over the weekend tells me they really aren't very interested.
As a "agent" in training myself, I was wondering how the agent would handle this. Obviously I can't ask their agent these questions. Is an agent ever embarassed to send over an offer that low? I think if I was this agent and clients did this, I wouldn't want to go any further into the home searching process until we had a talk about what was realistic and what their expectations were.
Agents, can you explain something to me. The buyer wants to submit a low ball offer. What's the harm in that? Sure the seller won't bite, but so what? Isn't offers not being accepted a part of being an agent? Writing up an offer takes what? Ten minutes? Why would the agent be embarrassed? It's not a reflection of the agent. Remember, it's about the buyer.
Sellers, perhaps your home isn't as impressive to the buyer as you think. When I bought my old home, I submitted a few low ball offers because I knew I would have to get rid of ugly wallpaper, repaint odd colored rooms, change landscaping, etc. The house, while being somewhat "market ready" still was not to my personal tastes.
What's crazy was that I ended up buying a different house that I paid more for than the original price of some of the "low ball" houses that I saw. It wasn't about the money.
Agents, can you explain something to me. The buyer wants to submit a low ball offer. What's the harm in that? Sure the seller won't bite, but so what? Isn't offers not being accepted a part of being an agent? Writing up an offer takes what? Ten minutes? Why would the agent be embarrassed? It's not a reflection of the agent. Remember, it's about the buyer.
If you know the seller won't bite, why waste the agents time, the sellers time, and your time? A buyer's agent is representing the buyers in the home buying process and low ball offers show they aren't really serious and are wasting everyone's time (as said above) which is what could cause embarassment over their client's unrealistic offers.
Sellers, perhaps your home isn't as impressive to the buyer as you think. When I bought my old home, I submitted a few low ball offers because I knew I would have to get rid of ugly wallpaper, repaint odd colored rooms, change landscaping, etc. The house, while being somewhat "market ready" still was not to my personal tastes.
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I originally did specify this was assuming a house was priced appropriately. Ours is actually priced on the very low end for our area. A house not to your personal taste does not justify low balling and wasting everyone's time.
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