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[Disney Princess 6]

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[SandiH]

It depends on the market in your area. County appraisals are usually lower than market value. If it's a seller's market, you might not be able to get the house below list but if it's a buyers market, then you will have wiggle room. Your best bet is to have a realtor run the numbers to see what other homes of similar square footage are selling for in the area.

 

[KathyTX]

It depends on so very many things...

What's the market like for homes in your area now- do homes generally sell quickly after going on the market?

I would base my offer on the worth of the home, rather than the buyer's asking price. What have similar homes sold for lately?

Be aware that the appraisal on record at the county auditor's website was for the purpose of establishing taxes, not for establishing resale value. The county's appraisal is often not a good point of reference...

In general, home sellers are most optimistic when a home has just been listed, and will often expect to get the asking price, or very close to it. If a home has been on the market for a while, they are often more desperate, and more willing to entertain offers substantially lower than the asking price.

All that said, every seller has a different set of circumstances and expectations.

If you make an offer for 95% of the asking price, the seller could either: accept the offer on the spot, counter with their own proposal, or ignore your offer as ridiculous. You'll have to determine what that house is worth to you, and make an offer that you can live with.

 

[PamOKW]

I agree that it's impossible to give an answer that would apply across the board. It's dependent upon your market conditions and how badly you want the house.

Maybe you'll get an idea this weekend at the other house about how much interest there seems to be and what your competition might be like.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

A house going on the market that is a desired property will not go below but above the asking price.
How many homes for sale in the area? Within the neigborhood & street?
School district? Is it the "wanted" one? This is the big factor around here. The homes in the next neighborhood go to North Middle and are near a trailer park go for $20,000 LESS than our homes. It is a shame since these homes are about the same as ours!
We have about 100+ homes for sale in the couple of neighborhoods surrounding me. We all built new and it is around 3 to 7 year mark for the homes. People are taking the $$$ highest value and running.
HOWEVER the economy has started to affect the home buying here....hmmmm...


Good Luck!

 

[Robinrs]

My sister and my friend both bought houses here in Atlanta for nearly 20% below the asking price. The first house was in a subdivision that was saturated with homes for sale, the second was in a much sought after subdivision with an excellent school. Both offers were accepted.

This is not the norm, it so depends on your area. If you really want it, bid the asking price.

 

[pjlla]

As much under as you want! It's your bid.... you never know!...
Good luck...............P

 

[aprilgail2]

I can't answer for their but houses around here rarely go for under the selling price...my neighbor was asking 300,000 for their house and the bidding went up to 315,000.

 

[Talking Hands]

You can offer what you want to. I would look at the prices that comparable properties in the neighborhood sold for and the number of homes in that area for sale. Also how long has it been on the market.

 

[Snowwark]

As mentioned, it depends on the market in your area, Disney Princess.

I just posted the following on the Flower & Garden Board (yes, there really is a Flower & Garden board!), about our recent experience. I hope you have better luck than we did!

Yes, we "almost" moved. Put an offer in on a house (for MORE than the asking price!), and we still were out-bid! I was so bummed about it, I didn't wear eyeliner for three days!!! No, really, it would of been perfect!!! A great location, with a nice size lot big enough to build on a self-contained suite for my parents, and a pool! Oh well...we'll just keep searching.

__________________

 

[Disney Doll]

It depends on the market in your area. Around here, houses are selling within a week at or above asking price usually, unless the house is GROSSLY overpriced.

What the house is assessed for by the town is for tax purposes. It's market value is very different. My house is probably assessed for somewhere between $100,000-150,000 for tax puposes, but it's market valuie right now is probably around $400,000(which amazes me since I live in a very basic 6 room Cape on a cute, but certainly not "prime" street in my town).

Is the house For Sale By Owner? Many times, those type houses are overpriced, because the owners always think they have a lot more there than they do. To them,it's their home...they've put blood, sweat, and tears into fixing it up, raised their family there etc., and they forget that to everyone else, it's a commodity.

I wouldn't go much less than $25,000 below askig price, unless, as I said, it is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced.

When DH and I were house-hunting(and DH is a realtor) we looked at a cute older house right on the line between our town and the city that we are a suburb of. When I mean this house was on the line, I mean that across the street from this house, the addresses were for the bigger city, and on the side of the street this house was on, the addresses were for my town! Anyhow, the house was on the market for $150,000(real estate has changed dramatically in my town in the last 10 years!), and our opening offer was $135,000. Notice I said OPENING. We had room, and were willing to negotiate. We insulted the people...actually their children ,who were handling the sale of the house(hence their inheritance) for their parents. They actually threw my husband out of the house. The son kept saying "If this house was in Greenwich(a very rich town about 45 minutes away)it would be worth $250,000." My DH replied "You're right, and if it were across the street, it would be worth $100,000". Needless to say, we didn't buy it, which was good because our current home is absolutely perfect for us, much further into town, rather than on the line, and we have great neighbors(except for one) who we love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, the other house we made the offer on eventually sold for $125,000, so they probably should have taken our $135,000 opening offer!



Good luck with your house hunting. It can be fun(I loved going into houses and seeing how they were decorated etc!) but stressful.

 

[Christine]

In my area, the houses have been selling *above* the asking price. When my friend sold his house, about 3-4 people got into a bidding war; however, he took the first bid that was right at his asking price. He took the first offer and didn't allow these other people to start outbidding--but that was his sense of fairness at work!

Same friend's son just bid on a townhouse in the same area and was locked out immediately by 12 other bids that had much better offers.

I thought, "I'm so glad I'm not buying a house."

But as others have said, every area is different. Please do not go by the county appraisal. The houses in my neighborhood that are just like mine have recently sold for $400,000 easily. I just got my county tax assessment and we are at $358,000, so if someone offered me that, I would totally ignore them.

Your best bet is to go to a realtor and have them run the "comps" for you of what similar, close by houses have sold for in the last 2-3 months. This is where your seller is getting their numbers. A realtor usually won't let a seller go too far above the comps because there is nothing worse than having a house sit on the market for months. The idea is to move it fast.

 

[shortbun]

Our neighborhood often sells above the asking price as well.
Conventional wisdom says bid $100 over here. Ya gotta do
your research. Oh, and our county appraises low too, it's a
good thing and keeps property taxes down. Don't go by the
county appraisal.