Resale Price Listing Negotiations

[DsnyDreaminDad]

Any words of wisdom on what is a generally acceptable staring point for an offer on a resale contract? Is 20% off of the list price too much? Seems like most of the prices I see on accepted ROFR reports and the average monthly resale price reports are in that percentage.

 

[Brian Noble]

Start with a price you are willing to pay, then see what happens.

The ROFR thread is an under-estimate of the overall market for a variety of reasons. The monthly resale price reports may be an over-estimate. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There's no such thing as "acceptable."

Everything is a negotiation.

 

[T-i-double-guh-er]

I think it depends on a few different things. If I think the listing price is high, I might be more aggressive with my offer in terms of percent of asking price, while if I think it's already fairly priced I might try to get a few bucks off but not 20%.

I've bought 2 resale contracts, had one taken in ROFR, and have one in the process now:

• Offered 7% below asking, paid full asking
• Offered 3.3% below asking, seller accepted, taken in ROFR
• Offered 5.8% below asking, paid 2.9% below asking
• Offered 16.6% below asking, accepted counter at 5.8% below asking

 

[stwaldman]

Start with a price you are willing to pay, then see what happens.

The ROFR thread is an under-estimate of the overall market for a variety of reasons. The monthly resale price reports may be an over-estimate. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

I'm not sure if the average sales price reports areaverage by contract sold vs. Average by point sold, but I also keep in mind these reports don't give detail about the points in the contracts sold (i.e. the average sales might skew high because of small add ons, or low because of a big honking bungalow contract).

 

[stwaldman]

I'm not sure if the average sales price reports areaverage by contract sold vs. Average by point sold, but I also keep in mind these reports don't give detail about the points in the contracts sold (i.e. the average sales might skew high because of small add ons, or low because of a big honking bungalow contract).

For what it's worth, I had two accepted at about 5% below asking, one was my initial offer, one I offered 10% below and we agreed to meet halfway.

 

[scbruno]

Offer what you would like to pay. Sometimes you will get a accepted offer if the owner needs to sell quickly for what ever reason. Right now the market is hot so they may not be willing to negotiate. where as maybe in November December when maint will be due soon they may want to work out a deal. in my experience and this again is only what worked for me is that when i buy resale i tend to do much better in the late fall early winter. Also some brokers are more willing to present offers as well.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'm not sure if the average sales price reports areaverage by contract sold vs. Average by point sold, but I also keep in mind these reports don't give detail about the points in the contracts sold (i.e. the average sales might skew high because of small add ons, or low because of a big honking bungalow contract).

There's also the current points glut, meaning it's much more likely to find loaded contracts than stripped ones at the moment, which will push the price per point higher.

With the time it takes to close, I'd be very hesitant about buying anything that still has 2020 points on it or even early use-year 2021 points.

 

[Sandisw]

I have done several and it really did depend on the contract and what I wanted. Sometimes, I had a price per point I was interested in and offered based on that, for others, closer to asking. Last year, I found a great BLT that fit my needs that was listed at $165/point. I offered $140/pt and we settled on $150.

 

[SherylLC]

It depends on how badly you want it? I think try just below what you would like to pay. When you get a counter, there's room to move up.

My last purchase, they countered and only because I wasn't that motivated, I said I couldn't go higher....and they accepted my original offer.

Edited to add: I've never been told a flat out "no." Well, only once, but I found out later my agent had never presented the offer. She just said no.

 

[hhisc16]

Any words of wisdom on what is a generally acceptable staring point for an offer on a resale contract? Is 20% off of the list price too much? Seems like most of the prices I see on accepted ROFR reports and the average monthly resale price reports are in that percentage.

I would recommend having a price in mind that you are willing to pay per point before negotiating.
I was looking at a 50 point at HHI.
Asking was 85.
I offered 70.
We settled on 75.
This is the original price per point I had in mind to begin with.

 

[Heather07438]

Shocking how high resale prices have climbed recently. On one hand, being $10-$15 per point higher than you wanted to pay can still be acceptable because on smaller contracts that’s maybe around $1000. Over the life of the contract that’s not enough money to me that I would pass up on my perfect contract. But lately it feels like $30-40 overpriced. Now we’re talking thousands... not as easy to accept.