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lafdr

How close on purchase price til you walk away?

lafdr
11 years ago

Well, we made an offer on the house in a better neighborhood, without views. We offered 20% below list,and have closed the gap with counter offers to 6% apart. (the amount the sellers have come down and we have gone up, so we are getting closer to eachother) Sorry if I am explaining funny. Our last offer was 85% of list price, and their counter was 91% of list price. And it is our turn to counter.

But, my husband is getting stuck on "I don't want to pay more then x for that house."

The house has been for sale almost 2 years and they have had a number of price drops, but not enough to sell it yet. It has some unusual features that I believe turns most buyers away. In particular a room that was a previous indoor pool that has been cheaply covered over with what looks like painted plywood. We don't know what to do with that room. But really love the rest of the house, lot, location and will deal with that room at some point. ?rebuild pool or fill in and convert to a garage.

Would you pick a maximum price and stick with it? Or......?

And of course, meeting the price for appraisal matters too. But we will deal with that at appraisal.

It seems silly to not be able to make an agreement when we are so close. But, I am aware I am attached to the house and may be irrational.

Comments (15)

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    All that really matter is what the place is worth to YOU.

  • Linda
    11 years ago

    What does being close to the purchase price have to do with the decision on walking away? Lots of people pay asking price and above when buying a home. It really has to more to do with, what are you willing to pay to buy the house. Thats all.

  • jonw9
    11 years ago

    I don't think there is a set percentage. It is what the home is worth to you, however getting an appraisal for mortgage approval may factor in as well.

    One house we looked at we were thinking the sellers were asking too much, and were going to make a low(er) offer. Then as we considered some of the intangibles we ended up offering full list and no concessions. we STILL didn't get the home, but oh well.

    If it is budgetary, come up with a number, set it, and that is the maximum that you CAN pay for a home.

  • ncrealestateguy
    11 years ago

    How much did your agent tell you the home was worth when he/she did a market valuation before submitting your offer?

  • terezosa / terriks
    11 years ago

    I would only pay what I thought the home was worth, regardless of the list price.

    And of course, meeting the price for appraisal matters too. But we will deal with that at appraisal.

    You better make sure that this is addressed in your offer.

  • nancylouise5me
    11 years ago

    For any of the houses we have purchased it has been what we thought the house was worth not a percentage of the asking price. What the seller thinks does not matter to us. And yes we have walked away with no regrets because we could not agree on price. There is always another house to look at. NancyLouise

  • deegw
    11 years ago

    I would also think about the issue as a dollar amount. If it's a 100k house, you are apart by 6k. Are you willing to let the house go because of that amount of money?

  • marie_ndcal
    11 years ago

    I am assuming you have not viewed in person the house? If the indoor pool is not working, and covered over, what damage has been done? leaking? and what will it cost to either repair/remove and can it be done and what permits are needed? What other damage or repairs have been done--and make sure permits have been issued, inspected and approved. Big bucks there! Or did you mean the house did not have good views to the outside area?

  • Wastoponcen
    11 years ago

    My husband and I are ready to buy a home of our own and we have been working on our credit to get financing but my husband is ready now. He has found a property that the seller is willing to do lease to purchase in the home with 3.5 down. We would make our monthly payments and he would give us the option of deciding when we would be ready to finance on our own upto 3 years. Has anyone ever gone this route, and if so is it a good idea or should we wait about a year to establish good credit rating and go the traditional route?

  • ncrealestateguy
    11 years ago

    Wastoponcen... you just hijacked lafdr's thread. Can I suggest you start a new thread for your questions.

  • lafdr
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you all for the reality check! Yes we have seen the house many times and brought relatives for a look too, and read the inspections (though now dated from original list date of over a year ago and need to be redone, which seller did agree to pay for). We have details from the licensed contractor who covered the pool on what was done and what would need to be done to "uncover" it(support beams were screwed into the insides of the pool). When I said no views, I was referring to a prior post about a house with awesome views or a better house in a safer neighborhood without views, which is what we went for. As far as value.......it is tough since most homes do not have a 1000sf heated, cooled covered-pool room. So it makes square foot sales prices hard to comp. It is not really 1000 extra easily livable feet since it has a plywood floor and unfinished walls and a glass roof. We will be at the mercy of an appraiser and see what they come up with. The main living area and master back on a nature preserve and is very private in back, much like our current home, with nice tree/bush views out the back (Not miles of vistas like the "view house"). I agree it is worth what we are willing to pay. I guess I was trying to get more leverage to make my husband more comfortable at a higher $ amount then he is currently at. (No he does not get final say, but it is smoothest if we both think we are in agreement!). I do believe that the owner wants/needs to sell this house more then we need to buy this particular house. So I think we have a slight advantage as far as ending up closer to what we want. But, sigh, I am not a mindreader to know their bottom line.

  • ncrealestateguy
    11 years ago

    If you are using an agent, they should be able to comp out the home, just like an appraiser will do. This will give you and your husband some peace of mind as to what the market value is. What are they saying?

  • drewem
    11 years ago

    Be careful. There may come a time when the seller will not counter anymore with you. They will get fed up, and wait it out. A few thousand dollars isn't that much to be petty over. Do you want to risk loosing it over a small amount of money?

    Also, the seller may think that if you are this difficult over the purchase price, how difficult are you going to be with inspections, repairs, closing date, etc.

  • weedyacres
    11 years ago

    6% isn't necessarily a small amount. If their original asking price was $300K, they're currently at $273K and you're at $255K. $18K isn't pocket change in my world. :-)

    That said, I don't have a good answer for you as to whether it's time to stop upping the price. If it were me, I'd look closely at the comps and not go above what they reasonably say.

  • loves2read
    11 years ago

    We were negotiating the first offer on house we are selling today...
    we listed at 275 and if the buyer takes our 3rd counter we would sell at 267,500...about 2.5 % off list...I think the comps will hold up for appraisal based on the review our realtor showed us of recently sold homes in our neighborhood...
    house was on market less than 30 days--
    6 or 7 individual showings and a well-attended open house the second weekend it was listed...

    Our area has +/- for selling...one home in neighborhood sold 1st day in MLS and I think for list...it hadn't closed when we put ours on market so don't know for certain...some have been 0-45 days, some have been listed for 6+mo...
    ours was updated 4 yrs ago, pristine, and the season for us here is still green...we have three large pecans and couple of oak trees on property and grass is green...which helps...was really hoping to sell before the leaves dropped...

    What made seller choose our house over others on market in neighborhood--
    have no idea because I don't think we got any feedback from her realtor...maybe she came to open house == otherwise have no idea when buyer even saw the house since I didn't get notice about showing by her realtor...
    won't get back answer on our response until tomorrow
    wish us luck...

    We also bought house earlier this year--vacation house in FL--
    location for us was primary factor since house is next to our daughter's...
    but it was also seriously updated recently--new kitchen, tile roof, lanaii screening, plumbing, AC, pool cleaner, new flooring...and price was comparable to others in neighborhood with basically no updating...
    sellers were relocating to CA for job offer and house was a RELO...
    we made all cash offer w/o even seeing it in person...our daughter did tour with realtor we used about 6 mo before when we were looking but didn't really find something...
    There was another offer for little higher--ours was for 5K off asking--and they took it since it was cash...I would have paid full price because I think it was a good deal even then...but the market there is still little soft but we turned around and spent money to repaint interior and change out some fans/lighting and o other electrical work...more than 5K...

    Personally I don't think I would want to take on a house with something like an indoor pool, empty or full, but whatever floats your boat...
    I would not recommend pushing your husband into doing something he is not comfortable with...
    the price might be an excuse for something else he doesn't like about the house...