Offer your 350k. And be prepared to let it go.
What it sold for before has no bearing on what they will get for it now (or in the spring). None. So, get over that.

kirkhall's right. If $350 is your top then work with that and be prepared - for whatever. But what they paid is irrelevant, as is what they owe or how long they lived there.

In addition, you're ascribing a motivation to the seller which may or may not be true "...this feels like too much of a jump - semi-greedy - Like they know how much we want it..." but says a lot about YOU looking at this very emotionally which is No No Rule #1 in home buying or selling! Maybe they are being greedy. So do your homework, or better yet, let your realtor do it and find the comps that show they are overpriced. I don't remember if you'd been in the house earlier or if this is a case of loving it from the outside only. You need a showing or you have no idea of the current condition or upgrades and can't know if the price is justified or not.

What does your agent say the home is worth?

If your top is $350, don't start with it. Considering that you previously bid $330 (and felt that was fair), start there and let them counter. If you don't find another home before then, that is...

You can't go by what they paid for it as someone has already point out. Maybe they underpaid for it, maybe they have done some really nice upgrades. Either way, I wouldn't refer to them as greedy.

I agree with the advice above. My house is valued at about 40% more than it was two years ago and I haven't done a thing to it. You have to deal with the market as it is now. In your area, the $368K number might be a real deal. You say you think you should pay no more than $350K, but is that based on what you the current market is or on what you feel comfortable with paying (which is irrelevant to what the house is being offered for)? I'm not trying to be harsh. It's just that the market is having a lot of upward movement right now.

Ten years ago I sold a house that I lived in for many years at what I thought was a good price, but, because of the housing bubble, I could have sold it for about 60% more two years later. Now its value has dropped down to about 30% more than I got for it. What's the right price?...Whatever the market says it is.

You should take a look at the house on Zillow. Some people don't put much faith in their estimates, but it's pretty accurate in my area. If you look at the price trend timeline for that house on Zillow, you might have a better idea of whether the asking price is reasonable.

The Zillow estimate may be helpful, but it might not take into account the most recent upgrades that may have been made. What really matters is what it appraises for, and if they price it for higher than the appraisal, they will not be able to sell it to anyone using a bank loan.

If you think it is worth no more than $350, then do not agree to pay more than that.

Sometimes people are able to buy houses for less than what they are really worth (which is what most people want to do), and this may be what happened in this case.

I would be concerned about your realtor's communication to you, because it doesn't acknowledge what others here are saying, that the previous sale price doesn't drive the current sale price. Did he or she do comps for you before you put in your offer?

Here is a link that might be useful: Reluctant seller

Presumably the seller used the time when they were not responding to get an idea what their home was worth in the marketplace so they could make an intelligent reply. That is what they should have done.

Did you look at the comps with your agent before you made an offer? If not, that is the first thing you should do, because what you think you should pay for a house doesn't matter to anyone but you. The calendar is also a pretty poor way to measure appreciation or depreciation of home values. Likewise, if they just took the price they paid and added a commission plus closing costs, maybe something for moving costs --that's no way to determine market value either.

Have your agent pull comps. You sound very emotional. This is a business transaction. I'm sure they didn't price their house at $368k because they know how much you love it. They most likely priced it to appeal to a lot of buyers, not just one.

Do you know if they did any signicant upgrades in the year they have owned the house? A homes value has nothing to do with what they paid. Would you be willing to pay $5000 over what they paid if they paid 400k for the house at the peak of the market? There are many things that can affect value. None of them are what the seller paid.

I think you are forgetting about all of the costs associated with selling a home. By the time they pay 6 percent commission ($22,080 if they get $368) and title insurance and transfer taxes and moving costs, they are probably not going to walk away with very much.

If you pay them $350 and they pay $21,000 in commission, they'd probably lose money on the deal when all is said and done.

It's not relevant whether or not the owners lose money. The only thing that is relevant is what the property is worth. The OP may just have to break down and get her own appraisal.

true beach lily. But the OP said they were being greedy and trying to make a lot of money. They aren't. They are probably hoping to just break even.

Without actual comps, it's impossible to know whether their listing price is low, high, or right on the nose with market prices.

If there was a dear friend who was wanting to buy my house - Id probably be a little more generous when negotiating price - just to sweeten the deal, and because there would be a certain amt of satisfaction in having such a friend buy this place.

But no way would I kiss $25K goodbye, for fear of looking greedy. No freakin way! And with a total stranger - I'd be even less inclined to cut a special deal with them..

I mean OK if it didnt sell and the market told me that its worth $25K less than my asking price, that's one thing, but I'm not going to cut any deals just so no one thinks I'm greedy.

For most people who own houses, it's the biggest - and often the only - investment in their lives. It's what they're counting on in old age to keep them reasonably comfortable and groceries in the fridge. "Selfish"? Well, OK, so be it. That's reality.

This post was edited by kashka_kat on Mon, Oct 27, 14 at 12:49