How long have you been on the market? I'd counter without question,but at what $$, that is for you to decide..375k sounds good

It has been in the market for almost 2 months. We listed it on Feb 1st.

The offer is about 90% of asking. A very good starting point, yet leaving enough room for negotiation. It's not a lowball offer IMHO.

Counter back with what makes you comfortable. You could counter at $385 to show you're serious about negotiating and then see what they offer in return. If you go too low in your first counter, they may only come up a couple thousand. By going around $385, that leaves room for them to meet you in the middle.

If they only inch up by a couple thousand, then you can do a firm and final.

Are they asking for closing costs? If they are, that could dictate how much you come down. If I were paying the buyer's CC's, I would want a higher selling price.

Sursha, usually the initial offer from a buyer is to feel out the seller. Obviously you are in a buyers market if the offer is coming in $50,000 under asking. No one can answer your question except you. Will you be happy with a $370,000 offer?

What about closing date, possible inspection repairs, amount of earnest money, amount to be financed/financial qualification of buyer? Look at those possibilities of costing you money and make a decision that you can live with.

Also, is the offer free of the dreaded need to sell another home contingency? If so, then I would try very hard to make a deal with these people. Although, in the end only you know what works for you & what doesn't if you're not in a position of needing to sell.

Good Luck...

Tricia

Well, coming from a Texan ..... I would take the offer in a second and git on down to Texas!!! =8^)

KC

Thank you for the many suggestions. So the Texan is suggesting to take the offer?? Isn't really a low offer? Also this being the first offer, why not wait for couple more offers??

I would counter with 389 with the idea of selling around 375-379

sursha, usually your first offer is your best offer. (statisically). I would try to make this one work. Counter their offer with something you would be willing to take and see how much they come up. They might be just feeling you out. You might counter with 390,000, they may come back at 375,000. You can go back with 385,000 and probably settle at 380,000 :)

We countered it with 390. Waiting for their response..

Sursha, keep us posted! :)

Also this being the first offer, why not wait for couple more offers??

Umm, you've already waited 2 months for this offer, how long do you want to await for a couple more? Two to four more months? While you wait this one will go away, and may start to look a lot better.

'sursha, usually your first offer is your best offer. (statisically)'

i believe you meant andecotally.
........

good luck!

Here is my dilemma. Currently the agreement with agent is till mid May. If I dont get a good offer(380-390), wondering whether to pull out the house from market and sell it when the market picks up say after 1 or 2 years. I may get 420 then !! who knows..
Or sell it for low(350-360) and move to Dallas..
I bought this house 4 and half years back for 300. So I wont be making any profit if I sell it for 350s..
Confused as usual :)

Sursha, its all relative. You could wait 1 or 2 years and sell for more money, but the house you buy would probably be more money too. What happened with the counter offer?

haven't heard back from them. It has been only couple of days.

Stay positive, you listed Feb 1st. The spring market has started to hit in the north east in the last few weeks.Buyers market here in NY and I put together 5 deals since last sunday. The market is definitely picking up. Im sure there will be another offer in the next few weeks if this one doesnt work out. The market is definitely picking up.

Linda,
That is encouraging. That is the same words my realtor telling me also. She says by looking at the activity in their web site for our house, she knows house is going to sell soon.

Buyers market here in NY

Where in NYS is it a buyer's market?

Thank you for the many suggestions. So the Texan is suggesting to take the offer?? Isn't really a low offer? Also this being the first offer, why not wait for couple more offers??

Sursha,

I was more doing that to extoll the virtues of Texas! LOL The offer may or may not be a good one for your area/market at this point in time.

Good Luck on whatever you decide.

KC

If you bought 4 yrs ago for 300K, and you sell now for 350K, that is an increase of approximately 4% annually. For my area, that is actually quite good. Are homes really appreciating more than 4% per year where you live? Something to consider, anyway.

That is a good observation. I'll check on that. Thing is we spent almost 10K recently for hardwood floors and new furnace and a/c unit. So if I deduct that it is an increase of only 40K from what I bought. I read some where that you dont expect to make good profit on your residential property?? Is it true?

Sursha, you shouldn't be waiting "days" to hear back from buyers. I'm in Mass and around here we put deadlines on offers/counters that are no more than 24 hours. It keeps the process moving and cuts down on the anxiety.

You wrote:
Sursha, you shouldn't be waiting "days" to hear back from buyers. I'm in Mass and around here we put deadlines on offers/counters that are no more than 24 hours. It keeps the process moving and cuts down on the anxiety.
---------------------------------------------
Is that so? I will talk to my agent about that. Thanks for telling me about that. You're right..It is lot of anxiety !!

"I read some where that you dont expect to make good profit on your residential property?? Is it true?"

I've seen plenty of discussions here about whether one's primary residence should be considered an investment or simply a home. In the end, it really doesn't matter what other people think but what is important to you. Some folks make vast profits upon sale and others go into foreclosure when their debt exceeds the house's current value.

My dh and I don't consider our home an investment. We also keep in mind that had we not bought a house, we'd have rented one and we consider what the rent would have been. In all of our moves, we've had a net loss on paper more often than we've made a net profit. The worst hit we took was about $50K. However, had we rented a comparable house for the same length of time, we would have paid over $150K in rent. Oh well.

You initially mentioned your dream of moving and how it would make you happy. Is it worth it to give up or significantly defer your dream in the hope of possibly getting a higher price for your house at some unknown future date - if ever? What guaranty do you have that the market value will increase to $420K? Maybe house prices in your area will fall. OTOH, you may negotiate a compromise will the current potential buyer that's reasonable for both parties. If moving was important to my dh & me, we'd settle for the current market value of the house even if we didn't walk away from closing with a big check.

Good luck!

Hi otmsheffield,
Very well written. I see your point. There is no guarantee that prices will go up in 2 years. Thanks for your response.

any news?

"We countered it with 390. Waiting for their response."

It's a moot point now, but you should have countered at $389,900 rather than $390,000 for the same reason that you listed at $399,900 rather than $400,000: psychologically it looks and sounds lower.

I should also have added that it is the same reason that they offered $350 rather than $349,900. It sounds closer to the asking price. If you hear or see $350 in comparison to $399,900, your mind initially thinks "40-something difference", rather than $50k.

usually your first offer is your best offer. (statisically)

Does this mean the first person to walk in and make an offer?
Or the first offer a buyer (whether its the 1 or 4th offer) makes?

As alluded to by melbat, the comment that "usually your first offer is your best offer. (statisically)" can not be proven as once you accept that offer, you would never know what subsequent offers would be.
I hear it all the time and just laugh. Usually it is out of the mouth of the realtors, who indeed have a vested interest in you taking the "best" offer......

In this case the first (and only) offer came after being on the market for 2 months. If the sellers don't make a deal with this offer I wouldn't be surprised if they have to wait another month or two for their next offer which will probably be lower, since the buyers will see a house that has been on the market for 4 months, and figure that there must be something wrong with the house.

Buyers are in CA and they are flying down to RI to take a look. So the offer they made was without even seeing the house!!

They live out of state, haven't even seen the inside yet and have already made an offer? It sounds like your buyer's are in a hurry to find a place.

Chispa is right, "you shouldn't be waiting "days" to hear back from buyers". I'd play on their sense of urgency and tighten up the process.

Make sure your contract doesn't allow them to tie up your house with too many contingencies right before the Spring buying season.

Any suggestions to tighten up the process? How about if I say like if I dont hear from you by certain date, I'll assume that you are not interested..If I had another offer, I think I could have done that. But unfortunately that is the only offer we have so far..
Your suggestions are welcome..

can not be proven as once you accept that offer, you would never know what subsequent offers would be.

I hear it all the time and just laugh. Usually it is out of the mouth of the realtors, who indeed have a vested interest in you taking the "best" offer......

demerara, the reason we know statistically is because when "the first offer" doesnt go thru for whatever reasons, subsequent offers are lower. Could it be that usually its out of the mouth of a realtor, because the realtor has seen the history of such a situation? Believe it or not, most realtors do try to get their sellers the highest selling price. I think its really ironic that if a realtor recommends their seller take the offer, they get accused of trying to make a quick sale. If they try to negotiate higher for them, they get accused of being greedy and trying to get more commission money.

When we bought our house in SoCal in 2002 it was a total sellers market, and houses were going for above the asking price, with multiple bids. So the first offer wasn't always the best.

We "sold" that house in August 2006 the first week it was listed, at $602k. That deal fell through a couple of weeks later and the market kept dropping. Next offer in October was for $575k. We took it, and fortunately this one closed. It's not SOLD until escrow closes.

So whether the first offer is the best may depend on the market conditions at the time.

Sursha- in response to giving a time limit on responding to the offer. ABSOLUTELY! This is a normal practice that your realtor should have included in the counter. When we sold our house in Flagstaff, we gave 36 hours to respond. Always set a time limit because otherwise, the buyer can leave you hanging.

I agree with others that your first offer may be the best.

Here in NoVA, the sellers market of 2003-2005 would yield multiple offers the first few days a new listing hit the market. The best offer from the frenzied bidders would be the best - if your house fell out of escrow, you would likely turn to the second best offer

Now, with the market slowdown here, we witnessed first-hand how the first offer was the best. In May 2006, we made an offer on a house in McLean for $765K. When the sellers refused to budge any more, we walked. Fast forward to December 2006 - the house sold for $675K. Usually, the longer your house sits on the market, the more likely it is for you to get a lower price.