Making a lowball offer [deal or no deal]
You hear almost every day about buyers are tossing out lowball offers throughout the Charleston real estate market and many are greeted with indifference by the seller. And although every buyer is interested in getting a bargain, there are lowball offers that sellers will accept and others they won't.
Because it's really about market value.
If you are considering making an offer on a home for sale in Charleston, think about this, if you were the seller, what would you do if you received your offer. Deal or no deal?
The facts. Buyers want to offer 19.5 percent less than list price. There are 5 comparable homes that have sold recently and the offer will also be 10.5 percent less than the lowest price comparable on a dollar per square foot basis. The seller will have this same information so do you think they will either accept the offer or even bother to counter offer. (I don't nor do I think that they should.)
Will the home sell for full price. Probably not. So somewhere between where the seller and buyer begin negotiation is where the sale will be. But if you start so low that the seller doesn't consider it to be a reasonable offer, there probably won't be a counter offer and if you actually want to buy the home, it's very difficult at that point to submit another better offer that you hope will be considered and you've also pretty much lost your negotiating position.
Bottom line, don't try to make a home fit your budget. Study the comparable sales and write an offer based on the current reality of the realty market rather than just throwing out a number that is destined to fail.
And by the way, I have seen homes sell for 20% below list but that just doesn't mean that all homes should or will sell for 20% below list.