Looking for Real Home Buying Advice

[melonleftcoast]

Here's are a couple excerpts from the article that are also good info (IMHO):

"A real estate agent now himself, Mr. Bednar sees no shame in making a low offer on a property clearly priced well above the market. While even 5 percent below the asking price might be considered an unfair lowball on a reasonably priced home, on a property priced 'horribly high,' he said, '20 percent might be just scratching the surface.'

Sellers aren't typically so logical in their assessment of an unexpectedly low offer, of course. Those who perceive a lowball as a slap in the face tend to treat the offending buyers — and sometimes their agents — accordingly.

'I have one seller who doesn't want to talk to me because I brought him an offer $200,000 below the asking price' of $1.4 million, said Attilio Adamo, the owner and broker at Prudential Adamo Realty, in Ridgefield, N.J. 'Some sellers get insulted and hold a grudge.' "

Their ire is understandable, said Lois A. Vitt, a financial sociologist and the director of the Institute for Socio-Financial Studies in Middleburg, Va. 'Some sellers personify their home, believing the value is all about them, not just about the sticks and bricks,' she said. 'They might have lived and loved the home, and a lowball offer can be seen as a very personal insult.' "


Now compare this with...

"Owners who really want or need to sell are accepting lowball offers. Sarah Keenan, a sales associate at Nicholas Fingelly Real Estate in Southport, Conn., recently sold a four-bedroom Cape Cod there for almost 17 percent less than the original list price of $695,000. The house had been on the market since September. 'The people that are really motivated to sell are taking it,' Ms. Keenan said.

This is not to say that every lowball offer is worthy of acknowledgment. Low bidders have a better chance of making headway if the house they are after has been languishing on the market or needs a lot of updating, agents say. Even then, the low offer is better off accompanied by a logical explanation, possibly with documentation."