Sellers tend to get upset when they get the low ball type offer on their home. personally I consider any offer an opportunity. An offer opens a door and buyers don’t want to pay any more than they have to. The buyer has to start some place and most of the time sellers do get less than their asking price.
Recently one of my sellers received an offer that was much lower than the asking price and the reason given by the buyer was that she needed to stay in her budget. The seller and I agreed that this buyer should be looking at lower priced properties.
Some properties are over priced and some are not. There is no hard and fast rule about what percentage of the asking price should be offered. If the home is under priced buyers may have to go over the asking price.
I always tell the buyers I work with that it doesn’t hurt to ask and when it comes to negotiating an offer. When the buyer comes up with a number I present it to the sellers like it is the best offer ever. Sometimes agents give all these reasons for low ball offers that sound more like excuses and ultimately weaken the buyers negotiating power.
Sellers need to understand that even if an offer seems to be ridiculous it does open the door for a better offer and sometimes a little patience and negotiation is all it takes. If the next offer that comes in is similar then we can say the market has spoken and consider either taking the property off the market until the value goes up or accept a much lower than asking price offer.
Each offer on a home for sale is an opportunity and should be recognized as such even if the offer seems somewhat disappointing.
