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I need a little outside perspective here. I posted before about whether or not to lower our price and we did but now I need to get perspective on this offer.
Yes, I said we received an offer. Background: we originally listed in March at $317,000, lowered to $310,000 and then at the first of the month to $300,000. The offer today is at $287,000. No closing costs, credit score above 700, living with relatives - so no contingency, and the lender says it could close between Oct. 5 at the earliest and 15th, at the latest. They are going to be faxing the offer to our agent today but they say they are offering on another home (in another city) at the same time and will make their decision on the best response.
They came to see our home with their agent in May and we have figured out that this is the same family that came this last Friday without their agent. They moved from the area last year and are living with relatives (free and clear - wohoo) and our house is in the same boundries as the school their kids went to last year.
Knee jerk reaction is that is such a low offer and we should counter, but husband doesn't want to take the chance of countering and losing the offer. We did that before and never heard back from the other people.
Our agent is our friend so sometimes I think it is hard to get the same "outside" perspective that an agent we just found in the phonebook might have. What to do? What to do?
If you really want or need to sell:
I would advise to take the offer. Anytime you counter you have effectively rejected.
That is a pretty strong buyer in my estimation.
Lets assume you got a full price offer (hardly likely in this market) and most want closing costs (that would be $9,000 for 3%) so you are down to 291k. you would let a buyer walk for 3K? well less than that because most offers aren't full offers right now. NOT a good business decision. you've got a good offer. go for it. Unless you don't need or really want to sell.
and I find it interesting that they are placing two offers? If they both get signed they are legally obligated to both both houses. Unless they are just submitting letters of intent... which I don't like. I would tell them we will sign it if you send over the offer/contract.
Bridget...what do you owe on the house and what City/area do you live in ? Please answer.
Even without this information, I would say take the offer and run...because your home will only DECLINE in value in the next few months. Sell while you can !
I live in Syracuse, UT. We bought the house last year for $300,000 (at the time appraised for $315,000 - I know, doesn't mean anything now). We like the area but it is just not where our lives are. We want to move back to the area that we both grew up in. We will be losing the equity we brought with us on the lower offer and the cost of the realtors but we will not be upside down or anything. We will just have less to put on something else.
This has been a costly learning experience but now we know what we want and we are just lucky that we are not in the same spot as some people that "have to sell or else".
Quote:
Originally Posted by shellytc
If you really want or need to sell:
Lets assume you got a full price offer (hardly likely in this market) and most want closing costs (that would be $9,000 for 3%) so you are down to 291k. you would let a buyer walk for 3K? well less than that because most offers aren't full offers right now. NOT a good business decision. you've got a good offer. go for it.
We have already kicked ourselves in July for basically the same situation. Offer came in at $306,000 when it was still listed at $310,000 and they wanted us to pay closing costs. We countered back at partial closing costs and they never responded. The offer was a phone offer and they wanted an answer within the hour so I think we panicked and I don't want to do that again. We basically did blow that for about $6000 (more, considering the offer now).
It is really nice to have level headed people, not wrapped up in the emotion, respond. I really appreciate it. I have to think of the market now, not what we came in at 1 year ago. It had just started its decline in Utah at that time.
I would just take the offer. It is worth it if you need to move and just want to be done with it. Advice we were given before "just take the offer. Let someone get a deal and then you will get a deal." Best advice ever. It stung for a few months thinking about the loss in money, but in the long run it was the best thing. (Nothing in the development where we sold has sold in over a year!)
Good luck. If I were you I would pull the trigger and then enjoy the holidays that are near...If you counter and lose them as buyers, you could have a very miserable Thanksgiving and Christmas!
We were in a similiar situation. We received an offer for 315k for our home that was listed at 329k (we had just dropped the price from 359K). We countered back at 320k to help defer any costs we might have to pay with inspections, etc. They accepted at 320k. We then felt like we had 5k to "play" with if they "wanted" anything done after inspections. In the end we ended up spending $1500 and fixed EVERY little thing they wanted. I think if you counter back for a few thousand more it feels better to recoup some dollars initially for potential fix-it costs that might be asked for after inspections, etc. I felt that it gave us a better position to fix everything they wanted and then everyone was happy!
like shelly said...send over an offer/contract and we will sign it asap. Put it in writing and If they do it there I would set a cap on what you would spend if any issue that might come up on inspection, that needed corrected.
IF you REALLY are ready to let it go and move on with your lives, GO FOR IT!
solid buyers are hard to come by in many areas
good luck!
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