We just got low balled on our house--WTF *?&!

[Another Reader]

The rule of thumb in real estate is no showings means you are 10 percent or more above market value. Showings but no offers means you are at least 5 percent over market value. My guess is you have not adequately accounted for the busy street or something about your property that does not appeal to buyers. If you lowered the price to $670k, you might generate an acceptable offer. You might not want to do that yet, but keeping a stale listing active may hurt your ultimate selling price, because buyers will expect a discount.

I don't understand why you are selling now if your new property won't be finished for almost a year and it is not the selling season in Florida. If prices are really increasing, why not wait a few months and try again?

 

[Options]

There is no place for emotion of any type during negotiations. Your reaction immediately made me think of The Art of War by Sun Tsu. I wish I'd read it before I bough my car last year, but glad I've read it before selling my place and buying a new one in a few years.

It's a little late for OP now, but I highly recommend reading the following book before selling or buying anything. It contains so much practical information on the art of negotiation that I'm going to take the highly unusual step of buying it after having borrowed it from the library. The tactics it contains will figure strongly into my future house selling and buying plans.

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended-ebook/dp/B014DUR7L2#nav-subnav

From Amazon:

Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.

 

[2017ish]

Our first major home purchase, we opened with an offer that was 1/2 the list price.

9 months later we closed for 70% of the list price. In the interim, I'd walked away a couple or more times, then came back weeks or months later with initiating offers at or even below where we had left off.

My understanding was that the seller was insulted all the way to closing, but he never received a better offer.

As others noted, it is not personal. Merely a market transaction.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Our first major home purchase, we opened with an offer that was 1/2 the list price.

9 months later we closed for 70% of the list price. In the interim, I'd walked away a couple or more times, then came back weeks or months later with initiating offers at or even below where we had left off.

My understanding was that the seller was insulted all the way to closing, but he never received a better offer.

As others noted, it is not personal. Merely a market transaction.

sounds like you bought that house from my dad

 

[2017ish]

sounds like you bought that house from my dad

To make the disclosure accurate, I am far from a great real estate investor. We lost our butts when we sold the house (unfortunately, we planned to die in it, made it "perfect," then life intruded to encourage us to relocate .... ).

I had no psychological difficulty in slashing the asking price up to 100K at a time after first floating it at our basis. But it still wasn't fun.

 

[Amethyst]

To me the offer didn't sound like a deliberate insult, like the kind I've seen where people criticize everything about the property in hopes of convincing you they would be doing you a favor by deigning to buy such a hovel. It was just the start of negotiations and they were leaving you plenty of room, ha ha.

Why, they even complimented your taste by demanding your furnishings

Meanwhile, I would find overt buyer flattery very suspicious. We had a couple try to convince us to rent to them by writing a note complimenting the property in the most flowery terms; even implying that they would be upgrading the place by renting it, because they were big-time people with a boat and priceless heirloom furniture. This would have been funny in itself, but the icing on the cake is that they turned out to have the worst credit ratings I have ever seen - low 500's, both of them. If B.S. were money, though....

As others have said, maybe you could consider lowering the price a smidgen at this point.

 

[travelover]

Our first major home purchase, we opened with an offer that was 1/2 the list price.

9 months later we closed for 70% of the list price. In the interim, I'd walked away a couple or more times, then came back weeks or months later with initiating offers at or even below where we had left off.

My understanding was that the seller was insulted all the way to closing, but he never received a better offer.

As others noted, it is not personal. Merely a market transaction.

I had a similar experience. Ended up paying for an appraisal which he sold for. He was so made he stole all the fixtures, even the medicine cabinets.

 

[NW-Bound]

My high-country 2nd home is in a really soft market. Not looking to sell, but there are tons of homes on the market in this little unincorporated town. When I bought it new 10 years ago, there were only a few listings, and they were snatched up within a week or 2. These homes are mostly owned by weekenders, as the locals do not make enough money to buy them.

If I were to sell it, I would be shocked and angered with the offers. But as I am not, I save myself the aggravation.

 

[Fean]

We bought our current home from someone selling it on their own instead of using a realtor. Unfortunately, the seller drastically overvalued their home and had a ridiculous asking price. We worked with a realtor to get comparable sales and ended up wanting to make an offer that was 22% below the seller's asking price. Our realtor refused to make the offer. She said that even though our offer was a fair price for the home, the fallout from such a lowball offer wasn't worth it to her. She didn't want a lowball offer to tarnish her reputation in our small town.

So...we cut ties with that realtor and I talked directly to the seller about the situation. I calmly explained how we arrived at our price, shared all of the comparable sales info, and told him to let us know if he wanted to pursue the opportunity further. A month later, they called us back and, other than a few minor tweaks, agreed to go with a price very close to our opening offer.

My takeaway was that calmly talking things out with all the data out in the open was an immense help. If the seller thought we were trying to screw him, emotions would have gotten in the way and we never would have come to an agreement.

 

[Music Lover]

After the 3rd agonizingly long showing AND forcing their realtor to take them on a boat ride up the canal system to our house THEY (after 48 hours) come in with an infuriating offer:

600k sales price, 50k down, AND....GIVE US YOUR OFFICE FURNITURE, THE TV ON THE WALL IN THE OFFICE AND YOUR LANAI FURNITURE!!! and the close date is Jan 11 2017!!!

I saw red.

You got an offer 15% under list with a request to toss in a $500 TV and some easily replaceable furniture, and you found that insulting?

Perhaps you over-reacted??

 

[Quantum Sufficit]

Um music lover....yes!

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[CardsFan]

I am not suggesting your price is too high, but years ago, as a buyer, I encountered a house we liked, but priced too high (FSBO). Asking price was 160k, I thought 130k was more in the price range. DW did not want to "insult" the seller with that price, so we never made an offer. It was a hot market, in a sought after area, and we eventually bought a house around the corner that was much larger for less than 160K. A few days before we closed (3 months after we looked at the first house), the owner of the first house called us and offered it to us for 130k. Too late for us. But at least he accepted his asking price was too high.

 

[Dawg52]

As a "real" buyer, I probably would have started at $600K. heck it's still within 15% of asking.

I'm not sure why sellers get butthurt about those kind of offers. I've sold three properties within the last 5 years with similar opening offers.

When I bought my condo I offered 17% within the asking price. Ended up getting it at a 12% discount. Before buying it, I made a low ball offer on one in the same complex at about 25% less than the asking price. The owner came back with just a minor compromise. I made a low offer because the unit had been on the market for close to a year and needed a lot of work. Plus no water view. I know what the eventual buyers paid and after upgrades, it ended up around the same price as mine. But my unit has a water view. Boy am I ever glad they didn't accept my offer.

You just never know how it will go. In my view, as a buyer I can always go up on an offer if it's something I really want. Of course one day I will sell my condo so I don't want any of you cats coming in with a low ball offer.

 

[eytonxav]

If that is your first offer in 36 days in a sellers' market and you think it is a lowball, something is wrong with your house, whether the price, the location on a "busier" street, etc. Rethink your goal (to sell it and move on with your life or to get top dollar for it) and your strategy (entertain all offers without being offended).

Good luck!

+1 I have no knowledge of Florida market, but that doesn't sound like a sellers market if you had to wait that long for an offer. In the Dallas market if you don't get an offer within 10 days realtors will usually recommend a price drop, but even here the market has probably cooled off a bit from Springtime, so maybe thats what you are seeing.

 

[RobbieB]

I would wait for the snowbirds to happen. Some will be checking homes with intent to buy and the weather will be wonderful.

I just love Florida in January -

 

[harley]

One thing to keep in mind is that nobody in their right mind is in FL looking for real estate right now. If you want to get the highest price, take it off the market and put it back on in Nov or so. Just having to go look at a place in mid 90 degree weather with very high humidity would cause me to lowball an offer. Plus, as a property owner in SWFL, the market is not as high as realtors make it seem. I've seen a lot of properties listed, but very few get offers anywhere near the asking price. Seems to me the sellers are living in hopeful land more than reality.

 

[aaronc879]

I've been looking at Florida real estate lately(just online) and most property on the market seems over priced relative to assessed value. Perhaps they thought it was a legitimate offer. No reason to be upset with them. You can always counter. I was told once that if you are not embarrassed by your first offer then your first offer is too high. Without knowing the assessed value or what other property near by has sold for, we can't say if their offer was too low but my guess is that it was a reasonable first offer. They probably didn't like the $100K earnest money and I don't blame them.

 

[bclover]

system viewable anywhere we have internet, of course we "watched the show" on our smart phones.

We obviously want to move, but our condo is being built in another area of florida and won't be ready for close for 1 year.

Our ask price, 699,900

After 2nd showing they asked if we would entertain a 6 month period to close because they have to sell their house.

Obviously, we countered that question with, sure....with 100k down and at risk of loss if closing does not occur as scheduled.



I saw red.

We immediately countered exactly as follows: (our realtor to their realtor)--->

My sellers are a bit insulted at this offer...we counter with our request for 100k down and 685k sales price. I left their damn request for our furniture alone but it pissed me off.


They have not responded and we are at 48hours since our counter.

Sounds like bottom fishers to me. I am very angry.

What did we do wrong?

The only thing I would do differently is stop "seeing" red or being insulted.

Look at it this way, their objective is to get the best house at the best price. Your objective is to get the best price for your house. Bidder is not trying to be insulting, he/she is simply trying to get a bargain. nothing wrong with that. LOL, when I made my offer on my house I definitely went low.

why are you so pissed that they asked for the furniture??

Remember "no" is an acceptable answer to all request.

 

[LARS]

Beauty, and value, is in the eye of the beholder. It is downright silly to get insulted or angry. It is a business transaction, plain and simple. Counter, don't counter, it is your choice, but just as it is your right to respond how you see fit, so too, is it fair for a buyer to respond how they see fit.




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[socca]

600k sales price, 50k down, AND....GIVE US YOUR OFFICE FURNITURE, THE TV ON THE WALL IN THE OFFICE AND YOUR LANAI FURNITURE!!! and the close date is Jan 11 2017!!!

+ does the buyer's offer contain a sale-of-existing-home contingency? If so, you'll lose the deposit (whatever it is) if the buyers can't sell their home.

+ are you OK with a January 2017 closing although your new place won't be ready until July 2017? (for new construction, the promised occupancy date can slip, causing headaches for buyers)

+ why counter about the deposit? $50k in your pocket if the buyers change their minds before closing sounds pretty sweet, considering that it's the slow season and you've got plenty of time to put your place back on the market before your new place is ready.

+ why worry about the furniture? On a $600k+ deal, this is pocket change.

+ the buyers have already made a substantial investment of time and energy in your place. I would have tried to work with them rather than flying off the handle.

Good luck with your sale!

 

[rodi]

DH is in the process of selling MIL's home (she's now in a different state). SIL is upset at the lowball offers - and really didn't want DH to lower the price (when it fell out of escrow after an inspection.) He went ahead and lowered the price, got multiple offers, and has an as-is offer for above the new lower price.

He got several low ball offers... he countered close to full ask - and they went away. You can always counter at full ask...


For a 6 month close - you do want a significant, at risk, deposit.... so any accepted offer should be clean and not include dependencies on them selling or attaining financing.

 

[Quantum Sufficit]

Socca,

We would be taking our house off the market for 6 months thats why i want 100k. I flew off the handle here in the forums but i thought we countered respectfully dropping to 685 k and enforcing our request for 100k. By the way , the "drop in the bucket" totals 8 k in requests.

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[MRG]

Socca,

We would be taking our house off the market for 6 months thats why i want 100k. I flew off the handle here in the forums but i thought we countered respectfully dropping to 685 k and enforcing our request for 100k. By the way , the "drop in the bucket" totals 8 k in requests.

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Do you want the drop in the bucket items? We're downsizing and getting rid of stuff ain't so easy.

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[RobbieB]

Eight grand is a "drop in the bucket", it's 1.3%.

For a non-refundable deposit consider the fair rental value for the months to close.

 

[38Chevy454]

The most important part that I may have missed, do you have an accurate appraisal of you house's value? Not from the realtor(s), but a true appraisal? Combine that with the current timing being out of the sale season, and should be able to figure out what the final sales price should be pretty close. I agree the low-ball offer can be insulting, but just counter with a real legit counter and if the buyers are serious they will come back. If not they were just fishing for a desperate seller.

I do ag