What should we offer? (contingencies, appraisal, agent, sale)

[amyalta]

We are interested in a house which is priced at £549,900. It was assessed at $589,000 (don't know when) and has been on the market for 702 (!) days. The details say 'Very motivated seller! Bring in an offer.' We have not met the seller.

We are cash buyers and can complete in a short time. What do you think we should offer?

[amyalta]

Sorry, I meant of course $549,900, not £!

[south.charlotte&union]

What does your realtor say? Have him/her run a market analysis for you to determine if the house is priced well to begin with. Also ask your realtor to find out the history of the 702 days on market...and to call the listing agent to find out if there have been other offers on the home in the past and what the outcome was.

[middle-aged mom]

An appraisal is one person's opinion of value at a specific point in time. The next new listing, closed sale or price adustment of a comparable home impacts the appraised value. Given the amount of time this baby has been on the market. I suspect the appraisal is worthless.

[amyalta]

Someone else offered $500,000, with which the sellers were apparently 'insulted.' Diddums, as we say here in the UK.

[WestCobb]

Originally Posted by amyalta

Someone else offered $500,000, with which the sellers were apparently 'insulted.' Diddums, as we say here in the UK.

Insult them againd and offer $500,000 or less. Ten percent off list isn't insulting at all. That constitutes a good offer these days. Perhaps if they get that figure again, they will reconsider and try to work with it. It would be kind of foolish for you to offer much more than that though. The reality is you're probably overpaying even at $500,000.

[south.charlotte&union]

Originally Posted by amyalta

Someone else offered $500,000, with which the sellers were apparently 'insulted.' Diddums, as we say here in the UK.

Do you know the terms of the other offer? Those buyers may have had conditions on their offer in terms of financing or contingencies. As a cash buyer you will have an advantage. But what previous poster said may be true -- check the comps first before you make any offer.

In my market in some instances we have started to request that we present offers directly to the seller, especially if the seller has his head in the clouds. We can justify why our buyers are making the offer that they are and hopefully get the seller to come down to reality. Best of luck to you, and let us know what happens!

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by amyalta

Someone else offered $500,000, with which the sellers were apparently 'insulted.' Diddums, as we say here in the UK.

As I recall from the MA forum, you weren't too happy when sellers said "Diddums" to you

http://www.city-data.com/forum/massa...dors-want.html

You might want to consider approaching sellers with an eye towards persuading them to accept your offer rather than demanding them to meet your expectations. That is, if you really want the house. If not, move on. Eventually you'll find something suitable.

[amyalta]

Sellers did not say 'Diddums' (which means something like 'you pore liddle thing!' ) to me - what they said was more like 'We are keeping our house on the market at $599,995 even though it has been assessed at $479,900 and we have had no offers in over a year. If you want to see it, come back in 48 hours and we might graciously let a little oik like you in through our {perspex} front door.' Well, little oik wasn't playing.