First off congratulations. Nice to finally see some movement.

I'm no RE guru by a long shot, but here's my intuition:

Don't worry about the SUVs. Maybe they're mom and dad's. It's really not your business and the only thing that you should be concerned about is the terms of your sale.

If someone countered full price I'd take that as being they are non-negotiable. If that's your stance then go for it. But if you're flexible you need to show it, and I don't mean $100. Lower it enough to make a difference, but certainly not to your lowest possible price, not when other offers are expected. You need to be prepared for them to accept it and not lose sleep about the other potential offers.

No haggling based on inspections sounds like a great deal for the seller. On the other hand the only reason they'd offer that is because they know they are lowballing you.

My guess is that John and Ed split the commission.

Good luck!

I agree...forget about the SUV thing. You've got no idea the circumstances around the vehicle & it's not your business anyway. All you're concerned with is selling your house.

Next, forget about any other 'potential' offers.

All you have is ONE written offer in hand. Negotiate it as if it's the only one you'll ever receive. The reason sayings become well known is because of the truth that lies within, hence, the saying, "Your first offer is usually your best offer."

Only you know your financial situation. Don't attempt to out fox the buyer. This is a business transaction not a game.

Only counter back at your listing price if you're prepared to just blow off this offer.

Counter with the lowest price you're willing to accept taking into consideration other terms of the offer.

Does this offer get you out from any liens that may be against the property? If yes, then...

Will you have enough sale proceeds to purchase another home? If not,

Are you willing to rent & save for some period of time in order to get out from under this house & control your destiny?

If I remember correct, you're asking $84K. Your offer is 89%. Frank's suggestion of $80K, or 95% of asking price, is meeting in the middle . That sounds, to me, like a good counter. You're showing good faith negotiation. Your realtor should be able to tell you what the average listing to sales percentage is for your area but I doubt it's much better than 95%?

I don't know what his closing costs are so I've not included those in my calculations. Are they enough to sway the deal?

Work that offer, Susie! Don't let it get away if there's even a slight chance of getting it to the closing table.

Congratulations & good luck!

/tricia

No home inspection? They are nuts but that's not your problem. I say take the offer -- fast.

You may end up having to pay for a lot of repairs for a buyer who has the home inspected. It's amazing what those inspections uncover, not to mention the incredible nuisance of having them done -- your time, unreliable contractors, noise, dirt. You could ultimately end up with even less in your pocket.

Woo hoo. Sell that place and get over to Jersey!

Wow...you guys are fast!!

The reason I mentioned the cars is...well...I saw the SUV's.
The husband was driving one with an older woman-prob his mother....right behind him was the wife in another. She had a few children in hers so I assume hubby had to go to pick mom up?? Ilya drove a small car btw.

Having said that I also have to say about the pre approval...well truth be told when Frank and I started shopping for homes we got pre-approved. The amount we were told was $230-$250. Then when we actually were approved the final amount was $300.
However when we made our offer on the NJ ave house the lady at the mortgage company gave us another approval document with an approval amount of $190.
Misleading YES!
Fibbing YES!!

I know I know but we were told by all parties that this is standard. So that being said...how much is Ilya's client really approved for if he has the means to afford 2 car notes??

The reason we did not look for a $300,000 home is because we simply do not want to be house poor. So many of our friends (most of whom once lived in our area) bought houses at the highest cost they could afford and they are strapped. No vacations, no bumper for the unexpected.

Also....I have this baldwin piano that no one uses here, I would like to see if the family would like to keep it sice I really do not want to move it so how do I go about asking if they even want it??
I will prob donate it if they do not want it.

Cheers!
Susie

"Having said that I also have to say about the pre approval...well truth be told when Frank and I started shopping for homes we got pre-approved. The amount we were told was $230-$250. Then when we actually were approved the final amount was $300.
However when we made our offer on the NJ ave house the lady at the mortgage company gave us another approval document with an approval amount of $190.
Misleading YES!
Fibbing YES!!

I know I know but we were told by all parties that this is standard. So that being said...how much is Ilya's client really approved for if he has the means to afford 2 car notes??"

Susie, none of that MATTERS.

First, credit is much tighter today so if you were first approved for a mortgage several months ago it may well be lower today. No misleading or fibs. The lending market has changed dramatically.

Don't consider what the buyer's approved for in your counter. Base your counter on what you & Frank will accept to sell the property.

The only thing about the buyers that you need to consider is that written offer.

Forget about the cars. Keep your eyes on the ball! You're allowing yourself to be sidetracked by stuff that's not relevant to the sale.

/tricia

I can't offer any advise, especially since it looks like good advise has already been given, but I just want you to know I have all my fingers and toes crossed for you. I hope everything goes well.

Sally

I agree with FOAS and Tricia. Focus on what you want from a financial point of view. Focus on what makes sense for you financially. Just focus on your bottom lines, don't try to read the other party. Just put out what is best for you, that's the right thing to do, figure out what your bottom line is. You want to sell the home, you know what you need to get for the home in order to afford your next home, and you know time is of the essence. Either accept it now or counter with something slightly higher than your bottom line if you feel like negotiating. I think 80, or 79.5 sounds good if you want to get this puppy wrapped up. 79 is that idea of 79 sounding ever so much lower than 80 even though it is not. But if 79 is a hardship for you, then counter with what you know you need to get. Just look after your best interests. The piano can be dealt with AFTER the house is sold. Keep your focus on the "sell the house" part! The best offer is what is best for you, and what is best for you is what you need to make on the house to get into your next one. I've negotiated for only two houses in my life, but each time I got a pretty good deal because I made a reasonable judgement about what I needed to accomplish financially. Negotiate from your point of view, your interests, don't worry about the buyers. Figure out what is most important to you.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Good Morning.

After consideration and sleeping on it, both Frank and I are at different price counters.

He confided in some friends as I confided in you all here.

He now wants to counter with our full asking price and he is firm on that. His feeling is that we have already come down on our price more than enough. Also we are offering a 6% assist on the buyers closing cost meaning we will in essence be paying all the closing costs. WE are also offering a one year full home warranty. We put on a new roof and we are giving all appliances some of which are old but some are under a year old.

Also the government is giving the buyer $8000 first time buyer incentive....that being said if the buyer is approved for $75,000, add the incentive and he can afford the full asking price.

Me personally I think we should counter with a little less than asking price,,,,say $81,000, "as is" firm and final with a deadline of Friday May 22. It shows that we are willing to come down but by no means are we dropping to $75.

If we can settle for $81,000 then we will walk away with enough to cover the lien on the mortgage, cover whats left on our down payment (we already put down $2000 to the contingency) and hopefully walk away with 5-6 grand to get the new home move in ready (the new home needs a new sturdy fence for the dog-its a must!!) and cover the closing costs on the new house.

In the meantime I have an agent coming thru today for a preveiw. I also have another agent who wants to show the house later this week.

I do not know if the 2 other intersted parties are planning an offer but alas if they are its time to put up or shut up LOL!!!

I am also hoping for a quick closing!! The fact that Ilya is giving us a deadline tells me his people are also ready to move. I would love to be outta here and moved in by July 4th!!

What do you all think???

Cheers!
Susie

Susie - If you counter at full price, realize that the potential buyers will view you as not willing to negotiate. In today's market, where people are desperate to sell homes and buyers know it, it's enough to make them walk away.

If you truly cannot afford to take less than full price, given what you're already throwing in, then end of story. But if you can, and want to move on with your lives, I'd suggest countering lower.

Not having an inspection contingency is a HUGE benefit for you and quite possibly saving you significant cash outlay. It's very rare for a buyer to give that up.

Don't count on any other offers or previews. You have an offer in-hand - try and make it work!

Please tell me that the warranty is a policy you're purchasing for them and not that you're saying you'll pay for any repairs? (I've heard of these offered by the realtor, but not the seller.)

Not that it's particularly relevant, but as far as I know, applicances come with the house unless specifically excluded in the listing. They are not an added bonus.

Regarding the counter, Tricia already said it. "Only counter back at your listing price if you're prepared to just blow off this offer."

And once again, you seem concerned about their finances and what YOU think they can afford. When I bought my house I spent significantly less than what I was approved for. Last minute my parents gave me a generous gift in order to up my downpayment. I had not expected it. But even with those two factors, I ended up taking in tenants for a while and it's a good thing I did because without that I might have lost the house. So please stop judging others' finances. Not only does it not matter to YOU, but there's no way you know their big picture anyway.

In all honesty I think that you really need to step back and think about this whole thing rationally. Maybe your husband is right and you're already "giving" the house away. In which case just move on and stop obsessing on this first lowball offer.

What's your realtor saying about all this? What does he think is a fair selling price?

Susie,

You & Frank need to quickly get out of your buyer's head. You are not focused on selling your house. You're playing pyscho-analyst. This is not a game. This is a business transaction.

Forget other potential showings. Forget your first listing price. It obviously was too high & has no meaning to this contract offer. Your $81K is a reasonable meeting point...it's 96.4% of your asking price! How much better did you realistically expect to get??? Try to make $81K stick. Maybe, you can't get them up that high but if you don't try you'll never know.

Where is your agent? He should be advising you on this counter. It sounds like he's disappeared?

Susie, don't lose this contract. Work with the people. If you counter back at full asking price...this deal's likely dead. STOP thinking about what to do with an old piano & getting moved by July 4. Focus, Susie, focus!

I'm pulling for you! Get a good faith counter back to those people soon...

/t

Frank is seeing my point and thinks the counter of 81 is fair and appropriate! He just doesn't want to add the firm and final aspect...at least he's now willing to at least counter which is more than I can say from yesterday!

My realtor is stepping back and letting us hash things out....we have a meeting with him this evening where he will go over all our options. Our buyer has given this offer a deadline of today to counter.

The warranty is something Frank and I have purchased. It covers anything that may go wrong while the house is up for sale as well as anything for up to one year after settlement. Its something that is not at all very common here but when we were out looking if a home was offering a warranty then it was a huge plus.
My home is 80 years old and has had 4 owners so this just cover us just in case....at first we were offering a buyers agent incentive of $500 but now we are offering the warranty which directly benefits the buyer who we assume will be strapped for cash early on.

Now the agent just left and gave me good feedback. I just listened and offered no other info so we'll see.

I do need to step back a bit...I realize this and I do appreciate all the comments here. I have considered all the advice I have recieved so I do plan on at least keeping a dialog with this offer and see where we can take it.
That being said I am off to work-I need a distracion anyway LOL!!!
I will check in once more before we go to Eds office.

Cheers!
Susie

It seems to me, that people in this buyers market are assuming that the asking price has some wiggle room. If your asking price is really your personal bottom line then you have to stick with it. But I'm assuming you set the price of the house with some wiggle room, not your bottom line. So now we are into negotiation. If 79 is too low for you, then it is reasonable for you to counter offer 81. It is also, IMHO, the most likely price to get the house SOLD right now. Don't ask me why, but that little bit of wiggling seems to make people feel like they have made a "good deal" with cars and homes. Asking price is fine if you have already gone rock bottom on your house. But if not, wiggle a teeny bit and get the house sold! Maybe 81500? That's meeting them in the middle! That's what the sellers did on my house, they met me in the middle of my initial offer. I thought it was still too much, but I was buying my house in the middle of the red hot market and had seen houses I was interested in, (in a lot worse shape then the one I bought and for more money), go up for sale in the morning and be sold by after work that same day, I couldn't even get in to look at them. So I realized that they were negotiating in good faith as far as being willing to sell to me right away, even though it was likely that they would have gotten other offers, and the price was probably as low as I could get it for, and if I wanted it I needed to step up. I think the same could be said about things from your sellers position (in a ice cold market). Do you want to sell? This may be as good as its going to get. Those people have many other houses to choose from. Meet them in the middle, and hopefully they will think the same--OK, this is as good as its going to get so let's get this thing done!

Sooooo.....????

Howdie everyone.

To my defense I am a very inquisitive person. I am now and have always been the one asking How Why When ect...I am not one to simply kick the tires and call it a day. No way...I am the one taking the car to the drag strip to test it LOL!

Even as a child I was the one taking things apart to find out how they work and some may call me nosey...I am ok with that. I ask the questions no one wants to ask and I notice things other people don't.

Having said that I knew I had a bad gut feeling about Ilya's client.
I will not go into details about them but lets just say I know enough to know that any transaction with these people will not be easy.

So my realtor gave us the facts and covered every possible scenario and in the end Ed said our best option was to go with our plan of countering with $81,000.
It showed that we were willing to be flexable but on the same token it shows that were also need to walk away with the funds to buy our next home.
He reminded us of our homes true value as well as how much we need to move on. We simpy cannot go as low as $75.

So we made the counter offer and asked for a response by Friday.

BUT......

WE also got another offer!!!!

No it wasn't either of the 2 who claimed they were going to write offers. Nope it was the young couple who came thru Monday evening!!
They were approved for $80,000 and offered $80,000!!

They have been out and about looking for some time now so they are ready to settle when they came upon our home.

So Frank and I are going to see what Ilya's reaction will be. We do not want to cut ties with him because you just never know. But we are most likely going to just accept the second offer since it will give us the extra funds to buy the fence (it always comes down to the fence with me LOL-I guess having lived in a row home for over 20 years I really want my own defined space LOL!!)

Now Ed knows this second couples realtor really well and said he feels the 2 of them will be able to make this work out for both them and us as well.

Sadly Ed told us since this whole transaction will be with FHA it is not likely any settlement will happen quickly. It may take up to 45 days so I wont be in my new house for July 4th. The good news is Frank and I have vacations scheduled for the last week of July and the first week of August!! We pick those weeks every year.

So there ya have it.

2 offers is so much better than one!!

Cheers!
Susie

I can't offer any advice that hasn't already been given, Susie.

But I can offer my congratulations! LOL Two offers are better than one, so either way, it looks like you will be moving this summer!

Best of luck!

Linda

Congrats Susie! Sounds like you can move ahead with your plans whichever offer comes through.

Best of luck and I will hope for a cooler snap for you when you are actually doing the moving.

Alexa

Susie, what's doing?

I hope no news is good news?