What is the current selling $. Kathy G in MI

$30K - wow... I didn't know houses so affordable still existed in the US...

As for your question, I would express it in %'s instead of $. Sellers tend to look at offers less than 90% of asking as lowball, although sometimes transactions happen as low as 80% of asking.

Also, if the seller has to pay closing that needs to be "subtracted" from your offer as well... Meaning a 90% offer with seller paying closing is really like an 85% offer.

It wasn't that long ago that buyers had to be crazy to offer as low as 97%... sigh, the good old days...

A $30,000 house? Do you mean $300K? I have never understood the "pay closing costs" request. As a seller I don't like that because they can be squishy. Offer your best price overall, with a quick close and you'll get their attention. $5K doesn't sound like much, what percentage of the asking price is it? and don't worry about insulting the owner, it's a business transaction. They shouldn't take it personally. :)

The reason we are requesting they pay up to $2k of the closing costs is because we just don't want to put out any of our cash that we may need to make repairs; the house is over 100 years old. And yes I did say the seller bought the home for $30k, crazy I know, of course it is listed for three times that amount. Our offer will be 94% of the asking price, however with the $2k closing cost request it will actually be about 92%.

Ask a realtor what percentage of asking price is common in your area. In our area homes sold this summer at 97% of asking price, I believe that number has dropped to about 95% so an offer of 92% of asking price would be insulting in our area and you'd most likely get an outright rejection of your offer. The key is to make an offer that may be on the low side, but doesn't insult the seller so that he/she is willing to work through the offer on the table rather than reject it outright. If someone purchased the house and flipped it, it should be up to date, shouldn't it? The repairs should have already been done. You'd be better off to pay the closing costs yourself and ask them to repair anything that shows up in an inspection. They'd most likely have to repair those problems before they could sell the house anyway, unless it is listed as is.

"the house is over 100 years old."

Wow again. Are you sure you know what you're getting into? I used to live (as a renter) in a house that was over 100 years old... no insulation, drafty (indeed there was a breeze inside the house when it was windy), the plumbing was so bad it literally took 30 minutes to draw a bath, the electricity (not original to the house) was 1930's era and shoddy... utilities were horribly high, and that was while sweating in summer and freezing in winter.

Just getting a competent inspector who specializes in houses that old will be a challenge, and you should indeed get one who works with old homes.

It sounds like you are looking at this from the wrong perspective. It isn't what offer will please the seller, but what the house is worth. Look at it as though you are planning to sell it. What could you get for it? What have comparable homes sold for in the last two months?

I can't imagine what the seller could have done to the house to increase its value three-fold in one year!

In the town where I grew up, there are plenty of houses available for insanely cheap prices: here's an example. This is a few blocks away from the house my grandmother lived in when I was growing up. It's a fairly decent neighborhood too - well, as decent as a depressed coal-mining town can get. Long time residents are all up in arms about an influx of Hispanic immigrants from NYC and NJ, but with housing prices like these, why WOULDN'T they come. They're only a few hours away from the big city and living for dirt cheap - you can buy a mighty nice house in Hazleton for what you'd pay in PROPERTY TAXES alone in NJ!

Yeah, Hazleton is one of those places where it's not all that unusual for someone to drive a car that's worth more than their house. Weird, huh?

And it's not just what the house is worth, it's what it's worth to you. If you can't afford it or don't think a 2br/1b home is worth $400k, then don't pay it. Find someplace else.... Like Hazleton!

isn't hazelton the town where the Mayor is trying to rid the town of illegal immigrants? and in turn has hurt local hispanic businessess? I think i saw him on 60 minutes or some other news show

Yup, that's the place. My parents still live there, though their house is worth more than their cars, LOL!

The whole area has been depressed for years...the old folks are dying off and the young ones (the ones with any ambition, anyhow) move away to a more prosperous area. Now the immigrants (both legal and illegal) are moving there because of the cheap housing and finally getting some life back into the city (the downtown was a ghost town for the 20 years I lived there - now it has lots of hispanic shops and restaurants) but the old-timers don't like it because...well...they're racist. I'll admit that it HAS been a tremendous drain on the already-not-so-hot school system -- they have had to hire a huge number of ESL teachers because they suddenly have all these non-English speaking students enrolling. Still, I'd bet most of the Hispanics in town are legal - people are just going after the "illegals" as a way to try to force all the Hispanic people out of the city -- I guess so it can go back to being an economically-depressed ghost town. I'm just glad I got the heck out of there! (jeez, I hope nobody from Hazleton reads this board!)

A little OT but
lkplatow
Thank you for mentioning Hazelton it was a nice trip down memory lane.
My mom grew up in Drums and growing up we spent allot of time there and in Hazelton. We use to have so much fun at Angela park
Until a few years ago my aunt and uncle still lived in Hazelton.
After my granddad died 32 years ago it wasn't untill 10 years later that I went back for my Moms funeral and I remember being surprised that there was a Dominos pizza
I was so shocked to hear how the town has changed
I guess I would rather remember it as it was.
Wouldn't it be a small world if our families knew each other
Send me a email through mypage and we will have to compare family names
Karla

jillianp - think long and hard about offering on this house. You said yourself it's not a great neighbourhood. How long do you plan to stay in the house? If it's not your forever home and you only plan to be there for a few years, resale value should be one of your considerations when thinking of buying a home.

I have no idea where you are located or if these kinds of programs apply.... but if so, perhaps you might benefit from this type of opportunity. Click the link to the old thread and read.

Here is a link that might be useful: First Time Buyers Programs