What number could you live with on a counter? They offered a bit over 86% and with the warranty and radon mitigation, their offer is a bit under 86%. They clearly expect you to counter. Remember, you are countering based on $289K. Your original listing price has nothing to do with these people or this offer.

Access to the home for remodeling - apparently the buyer is looking for a ranch because a family member had an accident of some sort and they want acreage to set up for horses for the kids.

No - liability issues aside, what if they fail to close? You'd be stuck with a partially "remodeled" house.

Access to the house for remodeling would be a bit bothersome to me, what if the deal falls through and you're stuck with partially done remodeling projects or something that is so distinctive as to be hard to sell to someone else.

I'd be tempted to counter at $275,000, and accept all other contingencies with the exception of access to the home for remodeling.

"Apparently the buyer has an appraiser (friend?) and a realtor but the realtor is just doing the paperwork and the advice is coming from the appraiser."

I would be very leery of dealing with this buyer.

The first offer a buyer makes is usually to see how low the seller is going to go. Counter with $280,000 and see where they go with it. I would say absolutely not to allowing them to remodel, unless the access just means they want contractors to come in and take measurements, and give estimates. I would not allow any contstruction whatsoever and if your state is a state in which attorneys are used, I doubt your atty would allow it either.

All the other contingencies sound reasonable. It sounds as if they want the house to appraise for what they are paying. Are they a cash buyer?

Did your agent price your house or is that your price? If she did, she will have the comps to back it up and it would be pretty hard for an appraiser to low ball you on a fairly new house. You have to remember that even if he's a friend of theirs, you don't have to accept the deal if his number is too low, so he wouldnt be doing them any favors. I wouldnt worry about that issue. If you're still worried about it, you absolutely can say I dont want "so and so" to do the appraisal. They can hire anyone else they want.

One more thing, if "no one passes a radon test in Nebraska" and your house is new, why wasnt the system put in from the builder during construction? If the levels are that high in the entire state, it should be an automatic.

Not know ing what you need to get out of it, I'd probably counter at 270-275.
No way on the access to the house for remodeling. I'd over Access to the house to take measurements 1-2 times, sure, but don't let anyone swing a hammer until your money is in the bank.
Best of luck!

I'd respond 280, with okay to all contingencies, except construction on house.
and with my own contigency that an uninterested/neutral party appraise the house.

Clarification - its not to actually start remodeling but to bring in contractors to look at things that need to be done. I'm assuming, to make the house convelesence (sp)/disabled friendly or perhaps just get a jump start on finishing the basement since the house is sooooo smalllll (sorry). So more like contractors coming in and measuring so they can start getting bids.
I might mention that my house does have all 36" interior doors and I think my hallways are a little wider than older houses too. I thought my elderly mother might end up with me and was trying to plan ahead.

Do you see a problem with that? Closing would be Sept 19th barring getting all the inspections done, no problems, no problems with financing etc.
Checked the link - only takes you to the main search page. The search I used to see comparable acreages was 100,000 to 300,000, 5-10 acres. I didn't restrict by town/area at all or any other factors and there are 28 hits, all in little towns in different directions and distances (some pretty far out) around Omaha.
I don't see a lot of price dropping going on in areas of the midwest that didn't have the big increases.
My second price drop would probably be another 5,000 (I'm getting a sort of "why am I the only one" attitude).
Because I figure I'm going to have to come down from there - every time you drop your price people negotiate from that so. That would be 284. With a hopeful (perhaps very unlikely) close at 280 or 279. Which would be 16 or 17,000 off the original price. Percentages aside that's real money to me. Real real money, I don't even know how long it would take me to save 17,000 now that I only have one job.

I know renting doesn't seem like a good option and I've personally never done it but this is a military town and lots of military people do it, they often run into moves where they aren't breaking even and just opt to rent.

So I'm glad Linda mentioned 280 because that's what I was thinking although my realtor said 275.

Linda - my realtor came up with the price but she was also my realtor when having the house built and understood I am selling to soon and how much the geothermal etc. cost. so I questioned her price initially but then she said other realtors came through and said they thought it was priced ok. Of course she was against the first price drop and is now on me about the second so I'm not sure what's changed. I'm not sure about comps - there just aren't many for acreages because there arent many to begin with and they tend to be very different from each other.

Good question on the radon. Was I living with Radon? First I'm hearing about lots of Radon in Nebraska.

Cash buyer? I wonder. The husband was in some sort of accident and they could either have gotten or be expecting some sort of settlement.
If so how does that change things?

They apparently live in the same small town and I wonder why they just don't put the hospital bed in a dining room or family room and renovate the current place but its really none of my business.
Meanwhile house prices here in Dayton haven't budged.
I search the same parameters by different counties every week. Typically look at close to the same 75 listings over and over and maybe 3 or 4 have come down in price over the last 3-4 months. Is it that people can't afford less and would rather just let foreclosure take over?

From Wikipedia:

"Radon emanates naturally from the ground, particularly in certain regions, especially (but not only) regions with granitic soils. However, not all granitic regions are prone to high emissions of radon. Depending on how houses are built and ventilated, radon may accumulate in basements and dwellings. The highest average radon concentrations in counties in the US are found in Iowa and in the Appalachian Mountains areas in south-eastern Pennsylvania. [4]"

I was thinking that this must be influenced by the rocky areas near the river, but an EPA map of radon zones shows the ENTIRE STATE at the highest potential for radon inside homes.

Here is a link that might be useful: a map of Nebraska radon zones

FCOL - that entire epa map is practically all 3's! Is everybody building a new home out there getting radon mitigation systems installed routinely? Maybe so but I haven't seen it mentioned. I checked the state/county I lived in for oh say 40 of my 50 years and they are all 3s and no one ever seemed to talk about radon.

Well, realtor is faxing paperwork (Nebraska is an hour behind and she told the other realtor I was out of state and she might not be able to get hold of me.

Mary, if you have time... I seem to remember your house was built into a hill? Am I right? If so, where did you get the plans from? Did you feel the military by owner site helped you or is it a waste of money?

Since they offered $250,000 you are basically $40k apart. Assuming that they are hoping to meet you in the middle pricewise at $270, I would counter at $280 - $285, and let them make the next move.

Terriks - I wish I'd thought of that or my realtor had put it that way.
270,000 is too low for me. I countered at 280 and don't want to budge from there. Maybe I should have gone 285. Well we'll see.
Thanks all,

and terriks you must be a night owl?

I'm on the west coast, so Jay Leno wasn't even on yet when I posted!

They countered at 265 and I have till 6 pm tomorrow night. I think terriks is right they figure to end around 270 and that's just not happening.
The market sucks and it could take months and months to sell but
I don't even want to counter. 280, my counter to their initial of 250 is the lowest I feel I can go. Now what?

roselvr - my house was built on a hill/slope but there arent particular plans for that. You and your builder just need to get together and figure out what you want for a front and back elevation, i.e. walk out basement what and then he'll figure out how far down to dig the basement and what to do from there.
Military by owner did not help me but it did help someone else on this board that was closer to the base than I am. For the money - 60.00? I think its hard to beat IF you have a house attractive to military buyers. Schools, location and sized for families, location for resale to other military types.

mary - how many months of carrying costs will it take to eat up the $10K difference between 270 and 280?

If you cannot go lower than 280, counter again at 280. They will realize you are firm and either accept or walk.

Mary, I agree...counter again. Either counter again at $280K or something symbolic but yet sends a message...say, like $279K. Don't give up on the offer...it ain't over 'til it's over!

Good Luck!

Tricia

Thanks Mary, we've been considering military by owner. The military guys I know online haven't mentioned that it's a site they use. For the price, which is fairly cheap, it's worth considering.

I did Geothermal Heating and Cooling, which is great.

Did your agent do any research on this? They should have handed out a fact sheet to show why your house is better then the one down the street. If the bidders don't have info on it, perhaps someone can get something together to go along with your next counter? My husband would love to have this in our next house.

I don't even want to counter. 280, my counter to their initial of 250 is the lowest I feel I can go. Now what?

Go to the post I linked to below and reread the 1st post you made. IMO, you need to try to make this work. I don't recall seeing what you paid / owe for it; and IMO having an empty house will be the pits.

Talk to your agent. Maybe they can figure out a way to make both of you happy without losing this deal.

From above: My mortgage payment is somewhat low because I put all my cash into the house. I can continue to pay mortgage and rent for awhile.
But at 850.00 a month plus utilities, say another 5 months on the market that's equivalent to another 5,000 price drop or 5,000 less on an offer.

Not sure what the rental thing is like, I think that market is generally good but you don't know what your getting in tenants. I'm willing to consider it if this doesn't work out.

You need to look into the rentals to see if you'll be able to rent it. If you don't, it's am empty house sitting. Do you have someone to turn heat on if it's still sitting in the winter?

Good luck Mary. You must be very stressed right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Price Reduction, opinions?

Mary,

Try to make this offer work. Please counter. Look at your direct carrying costs but don't forget the opportunity cost of the equity you have in the house. That money, extracted, could be working for you.

I know how hard it is to go lower than you ever thought possible. I was in your situation in Ohio last Fall. Job transfer; less than a year of ownership; molasses market; 3 other houses for sale in the neighborhood. After 60 days, I had one offer that was less than I had paid for the house. We countered back and forth and finally found a number we could all live with. I sold for $5K less than I had paid and I don't regret it for a second.

Why? My monthly carrying costs were $2500 but I also considered the opportunity cost of my equity sitting dead. Invested, that equity was worth another $2500 per month.
So, I lost one month's worth of costs plus I didn't have to worry about the place over the winter. My competition? All three are still on the market.

Twelve months later, I still feel relieved. Good Luck with whatever you decide.

Below are the results from realtor.com for Mary's area using $250k to 300k - 3 beds with 2 baths. Her's is 16608 18 St.

Perhaps it will help someone to give her more input.

*My back is hurting, I can't think straight.

Here is a link that might be useful: Competition on realtor.com

Why don't you want to go under 280? pride? debt? value? something internal?

The market is slow in your area and you have an offer, try very hard to make it work.

Get rid of the headache and heartache before you spend more money (and your time does = money) than the 15 K difference between what you want and what they offered.

Consider this offer.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts, advice and comments. I still have a few hours to deliberate - NE is 1 hour behind. I asked my realtor who is in Omaha to call her companies branch office in my smaller town and ask what they thought of the market. I have not heard from her.
Stonegray - I assume your comments were made in an effort to be helpful but I found your speculations distressful and unnecessary.

Mary

I think stonegray was just being realistic.

IF 280 is the lowest you will go, the house may never sell... or drag out for a very long time. But maybe you are in no hurry to sell... so that point might be moot.

A 15K difference is VERY close - I would really try to make this deal work if I wanted the house sold!

Stonegray - I assume your comments were made in an effort to be helpful but I found your speculations distressful and unnecessary.

Mary, only you know what you need to get from this to break even or make a few $$. You have a few posts here, it's hard to go back and read them all to find out where you got the number you need to get. I looked at the comment more as a question.

You're so close to selling this house, hopefully you can make this work so that both of you are happy.

marys1000, I know it is hard to not become emotional about things like this and I think stonegray was just trying to point out that you need to look at logic and see why 280K is your needed number.

I would say could you counter at maybe 277K and say this is firm and final and that buyer can have all the inspections, but that you won't fix anything that the inspections come up with? This still means the buyer could walk if they find something they don't like at the inspection, but at least you know there won't be any more negotiations.

I know that it seems like a lot of money, but how much is it worth it to you to have the house sold and not have to worry about and deal with it anymore as well. If you are not there then what could go wrong while you are gone that you'd have to deal with long distance etc.

I'm sorry Mary, I didn't mean to distress you, just to make you think about why you picked a set number as your lowest price.

In your posts I read, I didn't see a reason for the number.

Again, sorry.

Well let's see...advice was requested on a public forum by the author and that's extactly what stonegray was trying to do...one may not have to like or agree with each and every advice (s)he may get. But that does not justify retaliation on author's part to anyone contributing to the thread.

Novahomesick is right. You need to get as much money out of the house as possible NOW. It sounds like even at $275 or $270 you will not have to bring cash to closing. Have you considered that the housing market has yet to reach bottom and you may lose more of your equity if you don't make a deal now? Get your money out and put it back to work in a safe investment. Look at it this way. What if the money you have invested was invested in a stock that you purchased at $100 a share. Perhaps 6 months after you bought the stock it was trading at $125 a share. Then the type of company you invested in started to decline and your stock was down to $95 a share, then $90, then $85. Meanwhile there was another stock that was going up, maybe not as quickly as your original stock, but at a slow and steady rate. Would you wait until your stock went back up to $100 (which may never happen), or cut your losses and invest in the new stock, or bonds, CDs or money market accounts? Your money cannot work for you if it isn't invested properly.

Well, Mary...
what did you decide to do?

Personally, I would have tried to make the deal work even if the amount was lower than what I wanted. I would have just cut my losses instead of digging a deeper hole and trying to recover from that initial loss. I had a friend in college who lost thousands of dollars in gambling, and ended up losing tens of thousands when he tried to recover that initial loss.

What other options does the OP have?

Renting it? That would have been a mistake. One of the fundamentals of rentals is that the owner should live close by to keep an eye on the property. You can turn to a PM, but you have to go through a lot of indifferent ones out to find a good one. And, given how unique this property is, renting it out was going to be difficult as well.

Reject the offer, and wait for another one? That wouldn't really help either. Its not like the market is going to get better soon, and will probably get worse. Who knows when the next offer will come? And, since the OP doesn't live there, the house is going to get dirty from dust and will show even worse. That certainly won't help.

If the OP was still living at this house and not in a hurry to move, that would be one thing. But, the OP has already moved and is paying rent for her new place and mortage for an empty home. Those mortage payments for an empty house is going to cost her anyways. Its either lose money now, or lose it later in drips.