Author Topic: Lowballing tactics  (Read 6634 times)

Case

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Lowballing tactics
« on: August 21, 2018, 04:42:52 PM »
Per my last post, we’ve found another house we want to put an offer on.  However, it is almost comically overpriced.  We have comps and statistics to back this up. 

What general strategies do you recommend in dealing with negotiations?  We are going to lowball, and probably set an upper limit for ourselves.  We can try to send our comps to the seller, but dont want to piss him off either.  The house was flipped, so the guy is likely just wanting to make money and perhaps isn’t emotionally attached to it.

affordablehousing

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2018, 05:24:15 PM »
I think your best bet is to share your comps. I would take a similarly non-emotional route and suggest that you've been looking, you appreciate the way the investor renovated the house, and based on comps you'd like to offer x. The flipper is probably hoping someone would love the design and decide it's the only house for them. Offer a quick close and the chance for the investor to save interest carry by selling it now.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2018, 05:08:30 AM »
Based on your comps, make a realistic offer with a little headroom to negotiate it upward. A really far below market price would piss them off. They might even decide not to sell it.

If they don't want to see it for a normal market price, they might not be able to sell it at all. In that case you can try again at some later time. Or you could have that tactic now, wait it out and make an offer by the time they get nervous that they won't get it sold.

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2018, 05:57:42 AM »
Based on your comps, make a realistic offer with a little headroom to negotiate it upward. A really far below market price would piss them off. They might even decide not to sell it.

If they don't want to see it for a normal market price, they might not be able to sell it at all. In that case you can try again at some later time. Or you could have that tactic now, wait it out and make an offer by the time they get nervous that they won't get it sold.

This is mostly the plan... the concern is that our ‘lowball’ isnt actually much of a lowball and is actually around market value.  Concerned going way below list will piss them off. 

In the particular area, its not uncommon for people to have houses on the market for a long time.... months is common.  I think sellers often hope that of they wait long enough, an irrational buyer will come along.... market indicates this is pretty rare and its similarly rare for a place to go way under market value unless it is a disaster.

Dibbels81

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2018, 06:00:04 AM »
I recently purchased a home in a buyer's market, so we were making low ball offers. We attached a short letter with the offers, explaining our situation and how our budget was somewhat limited for the area. It seemed to help, as the sellers didn't get pissy with us and made counter offers instead of ignoring.

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2018, 06:01:35 AM »
Per my last post, we’ve found another house we want to put an offer on.  However, it is almost comically overpriced.  We have comps and statistics to back this up. 

What general strategies do you recommend in dealing with negotiations?  We are going to lowball, and probably set an upper limit for ourselves.  We can try to send our comps to the seller, but dont want to piss him off either.  The house was flipped, so the guy is likely just wanting to make money and perhaps isn’t emotionally attached to it.

To explain the house a bit more...
it is a smaller house, but high quality.  However, the sellers are trying to jack up the price by raising the sqft and bedroom # by finishing the basement and including in the square footage in teh calculation.  Of course, the basement has far less money poured into it than the top half, and it is below grade (not a walk out, few windows).

Other houses in the area selling at their price point have significantly more sqft.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2018, 06:26:02 AM »
Just make sure you don't pay more than the market price for this house. Otherwise, another house will appear sometime, which you can buy for the appropriate price.

frugaliknowit

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2018, 06:31:31 AM »
If the asking price is more than 5% above what you will pay, you might wanna wait it out (wait until they get tired of sitting on it...). 

affordablehousing

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2018, 11:15:01 AM »
I have to say it sounds like a bum deal. Flips are usually hiding all sorts of nightmares. If things are sitting for months can't you find another place?

PizzaSteve

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2018, 12:09:51 PM »
We had good results by crafting a respectful letter, explaining our offer price by taking the asking price, relevant per square foot comps and likely repairs necessary on the house to have it achieve the market price.

Essentially we said, we are interested in your home and here is our rationale for our offer price. 

[edit...details quoted below...]

For me, I think people need an logical excuse to cave in a negotiation to salve their egos.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2018, 04:00:51 PM by PizzaSteve »

Jrr85

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2018, 12:22:07 PM »
I have to say it sounds like a bum deal. Flips are usually hiding all sorts of nightmares. If things are sitting for months can't you find another place?

^^This^^

I would be really hesitant to buy a flip if I didn't know who did the work. 

Lots of stuff could be messed up that's not a code violation.  And depending on how your area is on code enforcement, maybe some stuff that is.   

The last house I lived in the previous owner did a lot of work himself.  The guy was reasonably handy and didn't really do anything dangerous, but it was a pain in the ass to do anything.  Things like changing out light fixtures became a chore because instead of using standard mounting hardware, they just sort of jerry rigged everything.  And the wiring, although not dangerous, didn't follow convention (although not following convention is dangerous in itself if somebody comes along afterwards and doesn't realize it).  Nothing was done with any thought as to how repairs or replacement might be accomplished.    And that was a good result.  Lots of people get to deal with improperly flashed windows (which will often not be caught in inspection), tile that starts falling down because of improper installation, etc.

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #11 on: August 22, 2018, 01:14:12 PM »
I have to say it sounds like a bum deal. Flips are usually hiding all sorts of nightmares. If things are sitting for months can't you find another place?

It's more than the typical flip.  They tore down everything except for the bare bones of the structure.

Anyways, we will have a full fleet of inspections listed as part of our offer.

Car Jack

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #12 on: August 22, 2018, 01:15:18 PM »
Who cares if you piss off the seller.  We royally pissed off the seller, sitting in his living room.  Our first offer was 58% of their original price.  They countered with 59.6% of asking.  We accepted.  We live in the house today and I think they're still pissed at us.  I don't care.+

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2018, 01:18:49 PM »
I have to say it sounds like a bum deal. Flips are usually hiding all sorts of nightmares. If things are sitting for months can't you find another place?

^^This^^

I would be really hesitant to buy a flip if I didn't know who did the work. 

Lots of stuff could be messed up that's not a code violation.  And depending on how your area is on code enforcement, maybe some stuff that is.   

The last house I lived in the previous owner did a lot of work himself.  The guy was reasonably handy and didn't really do anything dangerous, but it was a pain in the ass to do anything.  Things like changing out light fixtures became a chore because instead of using standard mounting hardware, they just sort of jerry rigged everything.  And the wiring, although not dangerous, didn't follow convention (although not following convention is dangerous in itself if somebody comes along afterwards and doesn't realize it).  Nothing was done with any thought as to how repairs or replacement might be accomplished.    And that was a good result.  Lots of people get to deal with improperly flashed windows (which will often not be caught in inspection), tile that starts falling down because of improper installation, etc.

They have provided full documentation on each component of the upgrades and additions verifying it is up to code/etc...

They literally brought in a local builder to tear it apart and rebuild everything.  We're almost not sure why they didn't just demolish it and start new, although it must have been economically advantageous to do it has they have done.

Anyways, yes you are right that any flip should be approached with caution... by the same token, so should any house.  How to know to trust the builder???  If a good inspection isn't going to catch something, then what will?

Some things under the floors and behind the walls you will never know....

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #14 on: August 22, 2018, 01:21:31 PM »
Who cares if you piss off the seller.  We royally pissed off the seller, sitting in his living room.  Our first offer was 58% of their original price.  They countered with 59.6% of asking.  We accepted.  We live in the house today and I think they're still pissed at us.  I don't care.+

Only reason we care is because of the potential that it affects a deal.  We don't care from a personal standpoint.

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2018, 01:37:13 PM »
We had good results by crafting a respectful letter, explaining our offer price by taking the asking price, relevant per square foot comps and likely repairs necessary on the house to have it achieve the market price.

Essentially we said, we are interested in your home and here is our rationale for our offer price. 

Our case:
Homes are selling withing 2 days with multiple offers in the current market...
Your home has been on the market 2 weeks with no offers...
Here is why we think that is the case...while your price reflects the average square footage value, this home needs significant work
- your price is $x
- what is needed to get your price is 1) new roof 25k, 2) $10k french drains to solve occasional basement flooding issues, etc. = $y

...So we are presenting an offer, which is $x - $y for your consideration.  We will not be raising the offer.  The offer is good for z days, after which we will focus on other properties.  W will make closing an easy process for you and our offer is solid, as we have confirmed financing for 80% of the assessed value and will put in 20% cash, etc.  Thank you for your consideration.

Amazingly, this worked in a market where homes were selling with double digit offers in an average of 2-3 days.  We bought the home for over 50k below asking.  It also worked in a buyers market when homes were not selling due to an local economic issue.  In that case we paid $172k for a home asking $210k.  Our strategy in that case was to outline how poor the market was for sellers.   We explained that our offer was not insulting, but a reflection of the market (in that case subtly by communicating to the listing agent via our agent that we were not over paying. We had already walked from 2 offers where sellers didnt meet our price, so we acted indifferent to the agents, so they could tell the sellers that we were not emotional buyers).

For me, I think people need an logical excuse to cave in a negotiation to salve their egos.

Thanks!  This is useful info.  I have crafted a similar letter, though I have been a bit more vague on listing $/sqft.  I do have this information and charts and stuff available, but I was going to hold off unless the seller counters and tries to hike us back up to a ridiculously high price.

Jrr85

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #16 on: August 22, 2018, 02:01:41 PM »
I have to say it sounds like a bum deal. Flips are usually hiding all sorts of nightmares. If things are sitting for months can't you find another place?

^^This^^

I would be really hesitant to buy a flip if I didn't know who did the work. 

Lots of stuff could be messed up that's not a code violation.  And depending on how your area is on code enforcement, maybe some stuff that is.   

The last house I lived in the previous owner did a lot of work himself.  The guy was reasonably handy and didn't really do anything dangerous, but it was a pain in the ass to do anything.  Things like changing out light fixtures became a chore because instead of using standard mounting hardware, they just sort of jerry rigged everything.  And the wiring, although not dangerous, didn't follow convention (although not following convention is dangerous in itself if somebody comes along afterwards and doesn't realize it).  Nothing was done with any thought as to how repairs or replacement might be accomplished.    And that was a good result.  Lots of people get to deal with improperly flashed windows (which will often not be caught in inspection), tile that starts falling down because of improper installation, etc.

They have provided full documentation on each component of the upgrades and additions verifying it is up to code/etc...

They literally brought in a local builder to tear it apart and rebuild everything.  We're almost not sure why they didn't just demolish it and start new, although it must have been economically advantageous to do it has they have done.

Anyways, yes you are right that any flip should be approached with caution... by the same token, so should any house.  How to know to trust the builder???  If a good inspection isn't going to catch something, then what will?

Some things under the floors and behind the walls you will never know....

This is true.  And I wouldn't buy new construction if I didn't know the reputation of the builder.  I just think of it more with flips b/c the percentage of flips carried out by completely unqualified people seems to be much higher than the percentage of new construction carried out by unqualified people. 

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #17 on: August 22, 2018, 03:12:50 PM »
I have to say it sounds like a bum deal. Flips are usually hiding all sorts of nightmares. If things are sitting for months can't you find another place?

^^This^^

I would be really hesitant to buy a flip if I didn't know who did the work. 

Lots of stuff could be messed up that's not a code violation.  And depending on how your area is on code enforcement, maybe some stuff that is.   

The last house I lived in the previous owner did a lot of work himself.  The guy was reasonably handy and didn't really do anything dangerous, but it was a pain in the ass to do anything.  Things like changing out light fixtures became a chore because instead of using standard mounting hardware, they just sort of jerry rigged everything.  And the wiring, although not dangerous, didn't follow convention (although not following convention is dangerous in itself if somebody comes along afterwards and doesn't realize it).  Nothing was done with any thought as to how repairs or replacement might be accomplished.    And that was a good result.  Lots of people get to deal with improperly flashed windows (which will often not be caught in inspection), tile that starts falling down because of improper installation, etc.

They have provided full documentation on each component of the upgrades and additions verifying it is up to code/etc...

They literally brought in a local builder to tear it apart and rebuild everything.  We're almost not sure why they didn't just demolish it and start new, although it must have been economically advantageous to do it has they have done.

Anyways, yes you are right that any flip should be approached with caution... by the same token, so should any house.  How to know to trust the builder???  If a good inspection isn't going to catch something, then what will?

Some things under the floors and behind the walls you will never know....

This is true.  And I wouldn't buy new construction if I didn't know the reputation of the builder.  I just think of it more with flips b/c the percentage of flips carried out by completely unqualified people seems to be much higher than the percentage of new construction carried out by unqualified people.

That is a good point.

affordablehousing

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #18 on: August 22, 2018, 04:25:28 PM »
Ha, with any old house, you at least know things are crap and it should be priced like that. I always worried that flips are expecting to charge more based on the work they do. They probably didn't scrape the site so they could avoid paying a new impact fee to the city.

AccidentalMiser

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #19 on: August 22, 2018, 04:33:50 PM »
Mrs. AM and I bought our current home and 17 acres for half the asking price.  The sellers were desperate and the realtor told us to make an offer we were comfortable with.  We did.  They accepted.

I realize that this isn't typical.  The point is to not get emotional about real property.  Get your comps, figure out a deal that YOU are happy with.  Make your offer and send your comps along with it.  If it gets accepted, then you get a deal you're comfortable with, if not then move on to the next one.

Happy hunting!

Capt j-rod

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #20 on: August 22, 2018, 08:55:46 PM »
Something is worth what another party is willing to pay on the day that the seller wants rid of said item... If the seller is a flipper then they have money tied up in something they need to sell. This places urgency on the seller because it is not their primary residence. If it was built to flip then remember that the budget was VERY important during the remodel and the seller didn't care about the quality as much as the upgrade. Like another poster shared, I bought my house at a very discounted price. After doing my homework it was owned by a lady who took it through a divorce. She could not afford to keep it. Needless to say she wasn't happy with the price, but she couldn't make the payments. Finally I know housing is a hot item right now, but a house is literally some blocks and wood. Don't fall in love with one property. I would inform the owner that you are moving to the area and will be purchasing a home in the very near future. Tell them that their house meets your search criteria along with two or three other homes. Show them the comps and make an offer. Tell your agent that you would like to see a counter offer. Don't be afraid to walk away, but also don't let a few thousand dollars mess up the deal. Also realize that with the current housing boom the price of materials has risen dramatically and contractors are very busy thus increasing their rates. Be respectful in the fact that the work that was done came at a premium price in these times. Finally be sure to consider the location and neighborhood. Where I live six city blocks can make a $50-75k difference with the comps. FWIW I own 5 houses as rentals and do all my own remodels. You are buying in a sellers market, so you might have to pay a little more than you expect. Hope this helps

Finallyunderstand

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #21 on: August 23, 2018, 09:00:19 AM »
Could you put the burden of proof back on them?  Submit the low offer and basically say something like "we love what you did with your house.  The upgrades are great. etc etc etc and then ask, But can you please provide us comparable sales showing how you came up with the price?"   

This way it makes them have to try to justify why they're asking $X but you still also gave them a bunch of compliments.  If they can't provide comps and just talk about upgrades then they know they're pushing the limits. 

Goodidea

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #22 on: August 23, 2018, 10:25:34 AM »
To my knowledge, flippers don't like holding onto properties and I haven't met one that doesn't want to sell quickly.  I like the letter idea and I wouldn't feel bad about making any offer.  Any offer is better than no offer.

freeat57

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #23 on: August 23, 2018, 11:50:35 AM »
One would think that a flipper would be aware of the comps, but it never hurts to supply some justification for your offer.  Back in 2012, I bought a house that was about 5 years old from the guy who had had it built by a custom builder.  He had it priced above market, which had dropped after he built the house.  I made my offer and he countered only a tiny bit below his first price.  I walked.  A week later, my realtor called and told me they wanted to sell to me at my offer price if I was still interested.  The back story I later found out was that he was building a new house and needed the money pronto.

So, do not be afraid to walk.  It might bring them back.  If not, be prepared to move on. 

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #24 on: August 23, 2018, 02:19:01 PM »
Could you put the burden of proof back on them?  Submit the low offer and basically say something like "we love what you did with your house.  The upgrades are great. etc etc etc and then ask, But can you please provide us comparable sales showing how you came up with the price?"   

This way it makes them have to try to justify why they're asking $X but you still also gave them a bunch of compliments.  If they can't provide comps and just talk about upgrades then they know they're pushing the limits.

We did this; their response was that we should give them an offer. 

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #25 on: August 23, 2018, 02:21:43 PM »
One would think that a flipper would be aware of the comps, but it never hurts to supply some justification for your offer.  Back in 2012, I bought a house that was about 5 years old from the guy who had had it built by a custom builder.  He had it priced above market, which had dropped after he built the house.  I made my offer and he countered only a tiny bit below his first price.  I walked.  A week later, my realtor called and told me they wanted to sell to me at my offer price if I was still interested.  The back story I later found out was that he was building a new house and needed the money pronto.

So, do not be afraid to walk.  It might bring them back.  If not, be prepared to move on.

I suspect something like this will happen.  They have already lowered their price a lot, but it is still well above similar comps... we may need to walk if they don't play ball.

Fishindude

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #26 on: August 23, 2018, 03:16:10 PM »
I've bought a lot of real estate and always start out much lower than the asking price.   They will either counter or simply decline your offer.   Typically they will counter somewhere below the listed price so you get the price going in the right direction.   At some point you may reach a stalemate where neither of you will budge, then it's time to move on and look for something else.

Don't worry about hurt feelings, etc.   They aren't your friends and probably won't be after the sale either.
Just get an offer out there and earnest money in the realtors hands so they know you are serious.   A cash offer with approved financing or no financing required for a quick close pulls a little more weight too.  You can always raise your offering price, but you won't very easily be able to go down in price after the initial offer.

Sharing comps, writing letters, etc. is largely a waste of time.   They're going to take whatever amount they decide to take.

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #27 on: August 24, 2018, 07:17:39 AM »
I've bought a lot of real estate and always start out much lower than the asking price.   They will either counter or simply decline your offer.   Typically they will counter somewhere below the listed price so you get the price going in the right direction.   At some point you may reach a stalemate where neither of you will budge, then it's time to move on and look for something else.

Don't worry about hurt feelings, etc.   They aren't your friends and probably won't be after the sale either.
Just get an offer out there and earnest money in the realtors hands so they know you are serious.   A cash offer with approved financing or no financing required for a quick close pulls a little more weight too.  You can always raise your offering price, but you won't very easily be able to go down in price after the initial offer.

Sharing comps, writing letters, etc. is largely a waste of time.   They're going to take whatever amount they decide to take.

There seem to be various stories where sharing the comps helps.  Impossible to know if coincidental or not.   I'm not counting on it helping, but figured it was worth a shot.  I also learned a lot in the process; both about the local market as well as how to comp houses.  For this reason alone, I would not consider it a waste of time.  It also increased my own confidence in our position.

It's really up to the seller.  Presumably a flipper has done his/her research, but this guy went in and bought a 2-3 BR ranch house, fully renovated it, and then put it at a price that was encroaching on the prices of nearby mansions and luxury estates.  He has already dropped his dropped his price ~10-15%.  Another 10-15% would put it at aggressive market value.

The major issue is the size of the house.  Due to small size, it is listed at >$350/sqft, which is an insane price.  In my area, luxury homes go up to $220/sqft as an absolute upper limit.  Actually, the MLS listing of the house indicates it is >$500/sqft, although this does not afflect a couple additions... but it is what everyone sees first!

If you give him the full basement squarefeet he wants to include in his assessment, it $210/sqft.  This is mostly where I debate, because basements are not usually given full value.  Also, if you see this basement, it becomes more clear that it is not of optimum use.

As an above poster indicated, all that matters is whether someone will buy it at a certain price, and more particularly, how long that will take.  There are a few comps in the area that have sat at this price point for ~1 year, and they are significantly larger houses.  I presume most people don't want a smaller home with a small lot, which is in fact what we want.  My rationale is that the house is located in a very wealthy area which borders with rich estates and such... buy hey, maybe i'm wrong.

Anyways, for these reason, I think the house is unlikely to get much attention until they drop the price a bit more.  Perhaps he will see my comps and realize this... or maybe he'll think I'm full of shit.  He's already switched listing agents/brokerages once... maybe this agent will talk some sense into him.  There's always the risk that someone with deep pockets will swoop in take it, ignoring the logic.  Of course, this is out of my control.  All I can control is not making too much of an unsound investment.

Finallyunderstand

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #28 on: August 24, 2018, 08:58:22 AM »
I told a client to walk away from a deal like that before.  3 months later the seller came back to us and told us he would accept our original "lowball" offer.  So we submitted an offer $15k below our original lowball offer and still got it.  :)

Hoping the same for you!

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #29 on: August 25, 2018, 07:47:37 AM »
We made our low ball offer, and the buyer countered.  Their counter was a significant drop, but about 1/3 of the way toward where wanted it.  So in other words, about what we expected.  They also want to accelerate the closing date.

We will likely counter back somewhere in the middle, agree to make their closing date.... though as time passes it will be hard to close by the end of September and make all of the inspections/etc we need.  The other option we have is to drag things out.  Their counter price is still too high for us, so we wont feel bad if we lose it, but we dont think they have other offers.  And they are more in a rush than us.

Duke03

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #30 on: August 25, 2018, 11:41:24 AM »
We made our low ball offer, and the buyer countered.  Their counter was a significant drop, but about 1/3 of the way toward where wanted it.  So in other words, about what we expected.  They also want to accelerate the closing date.

We will likely counter back somewhere in the middle, agree to make their closing date.... though as time passes it will be hard to close by the end of September and make all of the inspections/etc we need.  The other option we have is to drag things out.  Their counter price is still too high for us, so we wont feel bad if we lose it, but we dont think they have other offers.  And they are more in a rush than us.


Just wait em out.  Don't pay more than what you think it's worth to you! 

tralfamadorian

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #31 on: August 25, 2018, 07:40:04 PM »
We made our low ball offer, and the buyer countered.  Their counter was a significant drop, but about 1/3 of the way toward where wanted it.  So in other words, about what we expected.  They also want to accelerate the closing date.

We will likely counter back somewhere in the middle, agree to make their closing date.... though as time passes it will be hard to close by the end of September and make all of the inspections/etc we need.  The other option we have is to drag things out.  Their counter price is still too high for us, so we wont feel bad if we lose it, but we dont think they have other offers.  And they are more in a rush than us.

Many flippers are using expensive money and need to get out. It would be common if their loan is for a specific period of time- 90 days, 6 months, 9 months. A lot of times they can extend their loan but it's paperwork and possibly costs points in addition to more interest. Anything past one year would be unusual and a hard money lender would be pushing them towards financing elsewhere.

If they've switched brokerage already, they're sending out distressed seller signals. Personally, I would stick to your original offer and make them sweat it out. Or follow @Finallyunderstand 's lead and squeeze them for a bit more when they caved.

Case

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #32 on: August 26, 2018, 04:58:51 PM »
We made our low ball offer, and the buyer countered.  Their counter was a significant drop, but about 1/3 of the way toward where wanted it.  So in other words, about what we expected.  They also want to accelerate the closing date.

We will likely counter back somewhere in the middle, agree to make their closing date.... though as time passes it will be hard to close by the end of September and make all of the inspections/etc we need.  The other option we have is to drag things out.  Their counter price is still too high for us, so we wont feel bad if we lose it, but we dont think they have other offers.  And they are more in a rush than us.

Next update is they countered back, coming 10k from our offer.  It is pretty close now.  We are debating to take it as or go a little farther.

PizzaSteve

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #33 on: August 27, 2018, 09:15:25 AM »
Thanks for the update.  If you get close, sometimes you can get agents to kick in some of their commission to make the deal go, assuming some are involved.  Ive found this is possible if the offerer can convince them he or she is at their absolute top price.

genesismachine

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #34 on: August 28, 2018, 02:59:33 PM »
We just saw a triplex that wasn't listed as a fixer, but definitely was. They listed at $485k. We put together a list of items to fix and comps to justify our price, and they accepted at $425k with no counteroffer.

Another property, they listed for $325k, also a fixer not listed as a fixer. It was an absurd price for the condition/house/neighborhood. We offered $300k. They sold to someone else for $370k.

I wouldn't say we lowballed either one, we offered what my best estimate of a fair price would be. I would've accepted either offer if I was in their shoes.

You just never know with real estate.

tralfamadorian

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #35 on: August 28, 2018, 05:08:52 PM »
You just never know with real estate.

+1

The last house I purchased, I offered 85% of the asking price verbally to the seller's agent during its first day on the market. I told him why and that I wouldn't be coming back at inspection time unless there was something huge that we couldn't see during walk through (there was lots of obvious deferred maintenance). The market was very hot and they most probably would have gotten full asking in a week or two.The sellers took it with no counter. You could have knocked me over with a feather when that call came in!

mm1970

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Re: Lowballing tactics
« Reply #36 on: August 29, 2018, 10:40:27 AM »
You just never know with real estate.

+1

The last house I purchased, I offered 85% of the asking price verbally to the seller's agent during its first day on the market. I told him why and that I wouldn't be coming back at inspection time unless there was something huge that we couldn't see during walk through (there was lots of obvious deferred maintenance). The market was very hot and they most probably would have gotten full asking in a week or two.The sellers took it with no counter. You could have knocked me over with a feather when that call came in!
My friends bought a house a few years ago (from other people I know who were going through a rough patch and then divorce).  They really liked the house...it was near their current house and was old and beautiful and HUGE (2x the size of their current house).  Out of their price range.  They low-balled.  And got it.  It had been sitting on the market quite awhile.