starting offer

I am wondering for those who bought a house lately...how much (percentage wise) below asking cost was your first offer.

I want to go as low as I can without being offensive lol!

Re: starting offer

I think it really depends on a lot, like if the price has been lowered at all, what the comps are, etc. I don't think there's a hard and fast rule...do you know anything about what the seller's bottom might be? how desperate they are? if they owe a lot on the house?

In our case the price had been lowered twice, once 2 days before we made our offer. Original price was $369,900, had been $345,900, finally lowered to $329,900. We offered $310,000, they countered with $320,000 which we accepted. So our offer was about 6% below the final asking price, but about 10% below what the price had been 2 days earlier, and about 15% below the original price....basically we knew that their bottom was around $320,000--while they lowered the price, they didn't really lower the bottom amount they were looking for.

Sorry so long! I think the general rule is about 10% but just wanted to point out that it varies a lot by situation!

Re: starting offer

thanks. It's funny because when I bought the house we are in now it was the HEIGHT of the market and we were lucky to get anything off the asking price...so this is unfamiliar territory for me.

They did lower the price recently - but I think it's still way overpriced for the market.

Re: starting offer

If you think its overpriced offer what you think is fair. Some of our friends have gotten houses at 20% off asking, so its always worth a shot.

We offered 15% off on a short sale and are waiting to hear back. The sellers accepted it, now its up to the bank.