House is listed at $124,900, is $118,500 with seller paying closing costs acceptable offer?

Question

We are looking at a house that is listed for $124900 in Winston Salem, NC. It has been on the market for 3 months, and is in a neighborhood with a lot of houses for sale (most of these are listed around 121K-123K, this one is more because it has more land with it). We are planning to put an offer in of $118,500, also asking the sellers to pay our closing costs of about $3500. Does this seem to be an acceptable number to begin negotiations? I don't want to offend the seller so that she doesn't even respond.

Answer 1

Make your offer as low as you can, when my wife & I bought our house, I made an offer that I thought was insulting & they accepted it & I always wondered,....Could I have gotten it for another $5,000 less?

Answer 2

It depends on the seller, in good times 5% less is normal.  We have made offer of houses and some buyer only want to accept a couple of thousand dollars off of their  asking price.  Some buyers are still in the twilight zone--the market was up a couple of years ago and they are holding on to the old prices.

We looked at one house that the person purchased two years ago and today the value has gone down 100k.  She has the house listed for the full price that she paid two years ago.  She said that she can not afford to lose money??? Her house will be for sale for ever because this a buyer's market--I looked on Zillow and the value has gone down $50k in the last two years for her house.

Answer 3

Ask your realtor what the comparable properties have sold for recently.

Answer 4

Well the price offered isn't too bad an offer, but asking the seller to pay those closing costs too may be considered insulting, unless it's common practice there--it's NOT here, and that's quite a significant amount all together

Were I the seller I'd be annoyed, and would cross off the closing costs and split the difference between asking price and your offer, but some could be roundly insulted. . . look at the % decrease!

Answer 5

that's offensive.  you are asking for the seller to lose about $9500 for that house.  you can try, but i doubt you'd get it.  if you are asking $6000 below asking price, then why can't YOU pay the closing cost?

Answer 6

Asking prices are less important than the appraised value. What someone would like to sell for has no bearing on your need not to pay over current true market value.

It is nice that you don't want to offend anyone. However, this is a business transaction, so it's not a personal thing.

If you walked into her house and said, "It smells in here and the place looks like it was designed by Stevie Wonder!", she might take offense.

But I'm sure you won't do that. In fact, without knowing the appraised value, I think your idea seems very reasonable. This is a buyers market in most places, so you don't need to overpay.

If your bid is in the ballpark, she will likely accept or counter-offer.

If she is "offended", thank her for her time and move on.

Good luck.

Answer 7

If they are desperate to get out of it, then a 10K loss is fine.  Personally, I think if you make the $118k offer, I would suck up the closing cost.  Another option, see if you can bump up the % by .5 if you can roll the closing into the price.  If you qualify for VA, it can be done on their loan.

Answer 8

If your credit is good, you should be able to get it for 100,000.00

Noone is buying now so get a DEAL!!! Then pay the closing cost..the realtor is making money..so should you...

Give them this offer..wait a couple weeks..they will call you if they are serious about selling...

Answer 9

It's not a bad offer, so why not?

If the seller doesn't respond, you can always just resubmit an offer. There's no hard feelings - if your gut is telling you to go ahead and try it, do it! You never know what will happen.

Here's why I say "go for it" -

1) It's been on the market for 3 months in an active neighborhood

2) Resubmitting an offer is ALWAYS a possibility

3) A seller can also say no.