Low and Outside... How low should you offer?

With all the press about how terrible the market is (or was very recently) many of the buyers contacting us have it in their mind that they'll be able to automatically get a tremendous discount off list price if they throw a low ball offer at a property. Before taking this tact, there are a few things to be considered. If you truly are only looking for the property you can get for the lowest price possible and have no interest in acquiring the one that best fits your family's needs, then throw away. You'll likely miss out on a few before finding the seller who is in a position to move well below market value, but will probably find one willing to dump their property. More often than not, however, most sellers are somewhere in the middle. They'd obviously like to sell their property or it wouldn't be on the market. But, despite a lot of the dooms day press, most of our sellers are not in a situation where an immediate sale is essential and they are definitely going to hold out for a reasonable sales price.

Particularly if you are looking for the property that best suits the needs of you and your family, a low offer may end up costing you in the end, especially in regards to vacation properties. If you've done your research with the help of a good Realtor, you likely have a good gauge on what you will be able to get for your money. If you find a property that is ideal and appears to be priced at a fair market value, why risk losing that property with a horribly low offer. Most sellers will actually react more favorably to a fair offer because they have more confidence that the negotiations have a chance of coming together and the transaction was not started from an adversarial position. The moment you place a low ball offer, the seller files your motivations somewhere between a sleazy investor and a total jerk who isn't worthy of carrying on the great memories they've built on the property. If you come in with a reasonable offer, however, they simply see you as an interested party who understandably is trying to acquire the property for the best terms possible. They're much more likely to work with you from this mindset. It's up to you how you choose to approach the offer when the right property is located, but that initial offer will set the tone for the entire negotiations. You really want to give some hard thought to just how low you want to go. Have fun in the search and please let us know if we can be of any assistance!