Thread: Need serious advice on countering

Originally Posted by lslson

We are selling our first house. It's very clean, we staged it and priced it very well, according to pretty much every real estate agent that has seen it. We wanted to price it to sell.

On the first day, we got a verbal offer for $29,000 less than asking. We said it was too low. Three weeks later, they put it in writing. That's fine except that with that offer, our agent pushed for us to take it without negotiating. She took the offer at face value when they said, "He can't afford more." This is after she repeatedly told us she thought we would get near the asking price because it was priced so well.

That, combined with several other things has made us realize what a mistake we made in signing with her. We don't trust her judgement and now we feel we are paying 5% for the joy of having to do this pretty much blind.

When we turned down that offer, she told us that another agent had gotten wind of the offer price. This really bothers us. We aren't even in the county anymore and we have no idea how this happened or if it will poison the well. Today we have a new offer and she expects two more by the end of the day.

The one offer that has come in is exactly the same price as the other, except that they say they are willing to negotiate. (I am curious as to if they had heard about the other offer as well.) We will wait and see what the other offers bring, but our concern is now that we don't know how much to start the counter offer. We have absolutely no faith in this agent anymore and we don't know anything about this. This is the first house we've ever sold, and even when we bought it, it was one we were renting, so we don't know a lot about how things work.

She said escrow would be 30 days, we split the closing (customary in our county) we pay the section 1 by end of escrow and contingencies are removed after day 17. She said they will be getting a pre-qualified letter from their lender soon.

We legitimately feel that the house is priced it's value compared to comps that have sold in the past month 15 grand higher than ours. We feel we should be able to come close to our asking price. Is starting the counter offer at $2000 off the asking price reasonable?

Any advice you would give would be so appreciated. We have until the 30th at 5pm to respond, and hope to get the other two offers today.

Thanks.
L.

First of all dont tie up the property in contract without a pre-qual letter PERIOD. Now as far as the counter offer is concerned it depends on what the list price is and what homes are selling for as a percentage of list price. Right now even the very best markets are selling at best at 97% of list price. So, if you counter at less than 98.5% you may end up insulting the buyer and they will split. If you are willing to take less than 98.5% of the list price then dont start negotiation higher than this because you seriously risk losing the buyer. If you are not willing to take less than 98.5% then you should play the game stronger and counter higher than the 98.5% point. I would base your counter on three things: wheather or not the market in your area is declining, the average sales price to list price, how strong the buyer is financially, and what price you are willing to take for the property to not have to rent it out. If you post here the following list of information I will give you my proffesional opinion on where you should start with your negotiation.

1. List price of your home.
2. Average price of comparable homes that have sold in the last 3 months in your area.
3. What area your home is located in.
4. What the buyers disclosed down payment amount is and what amount the buyers pre-qual letter is for.
5. Size of your home and number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
6. Average sold to list price for your market.

First, I'll wait the 2 others offers. If they're not coming by the end of the day, forget them.
Compare these offer with the first. Of course, your own motivation to sell is something that does not appear in your post. But the 2 grand less as counter offer show little motivation, depending on the asking price.
Now, it's already difficult to negociate with 2 agents in the middle.
Your $2K are OK to me. If you feel afraid of a "no-no" from the buyers, just ask your agent to add a "tell me what your client think..." in the offer exchange. If a "no-no" comes along, you might come back with a "Oh, if it's only that, we can do this or that..." But numbers are not in the conversation at that time....
Negociation is something that not every agents masterize. It is important to shop around for an agent with whom you fell comfortable with...and who can answer your questions...

You really need to know what the average asking to sold prices are. If your agent can't provide that, then call an appraiser and pay them if you have to get a straight answer.

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Once you get that info you will know what your house should sell for including what sellers are giving in closing costs. Also see what's going on in your market is declining like many other places, is it stable etc! if it

Is it the right price for the property? Perhaps this is the question that keeps on creeping in people's mind ever since they make up their mind to buy or sell a property. It is quite necessary to spot the right price for making a successful real estate transaction but it is some how difficult . Neither any rule of thumb nor a scientific technique is there to help! So, how to get a good deal? People are advised to believe their own instinct but cautiously. Some things which one should keep in mind to reach the decent levels of property-valuation and deal are:

1. Good quality roads around and within the society add value to the property.
2. Value depends on the profile of the location where the property is situated.
3. Connectivity with bus depot, railway station and airport is equally important from buyer's point of view. In fact, property in vicinity to these facilities makes sound investment proposition.
4. People avoid locations that are closer or are known as riot prone area or communally polarized.
5. Not to mention, green surroundings, civic amenities like safe drinking water, uninterrupted power supply and systematic drainage system are the first preferences of the buyer. As valuation of property is a process, all the above discussed factors go hand in hand with perception of quality.For more view- realtydigest.blogspot.com