Dear Nivea,
There is no set amount to take off a price. I can show you homes that are selling for at or abouve the list price around our area. It all depends on the way a home was priced. Your agent should provide you with a CMA to show you where the home should be selling at and then you can arrive at an offer price.
Good luck.
Sharon Kozinn

Nivea,
First and foremost, dont fall in love with any home until you leave the closing table, otherwise you will pay too much. As indicated there is no concrete answer on how to position your offer. It depends upon how long the home has been on market, motivation of seller, timing, your down payment,and how your agent couches the offer.

Never you have to consider the seller does not walk off with the list price that is only gross not net to the seller. http://www.lynn911.com a good agent should be able to assist in making the right offer.

Hi Nivea, no there really is no rule of thumb on the best starting point off of list for an opening bid on a home. Hopefully you are working with a good agent, if not, I recommend you do. She/he can help you put together a pricing analysis based upon the facts of the market. The result will be a reasonable range for an offer.

An offer that can be substantiated by facts is compelling. I ask to present my offers in person and have the pricing analysis at the ready along with our offer. When you start a discussion with "let me show you why we think our offer is a fair one..." you are off to a great start. Your goal is to get the seller to engage with you and you are far more likely to be successful when you can justify your response based upon a well thought out analysis using comparables and local market trends, than if you pull number out of a hat or base your offer on blanket % off assumptions.

It is a great time to buy. Good luck to you!

Best,
Jeannie Feenick
Weichert Realtors
Search and connect at http://www.feenick.com

Nivea,

There are houses in today's market that are worth every penny that the seller is asking for them. The really is no rule of thumb for making offers. You yourself need to understand the market and make a fair offer to the seller. The agent is there to assist and certainly their opinion matters and is valuable but you need to be the one to make the final call.

Ultimately you are trying to fit something into a mold that won't. Real estate is far too dynamic to have rules of thumb, each situation and offer should be handled on a case by case basis. There are times when I tell my clients the house is worth every penny and others where I tell my clients to come in low, it really just depends.

I hope that helps.

There is no rule of thumb when making an offer. Houses that are priced "right" will sell very close to asking price (or above) and homes priced too high could have a large difference between closing and asking price.

Prices are determined by market comparable sales. A local agent can get that information to you and best help you interpret it to make an offer and understand the local market.

If you would like information on closed sales, you can order a market snapshot from my website, below, which will give you an idea of where similar homes are selling. The data is taken from local MLS boards, fyi, so it is accurate. However, a seasoned agent is your best bet when interpreting that data for you.

Always remember, too, that in a buyers market (and again, this will totally depend on your local market conditions) not all the offers/numbers make sense and deals happen that are outside the comp range dependent on the sellers and buyers motivation.

Good luck with your offer.

I do not believe there is a perfect formula for discount amounts on offers. I think there are a lot of variables such as price range, days on market, homes condition and the state of the real estate market in your area. I do know that everyone wants to walk away from a real estate transaction feeling like they got a good deal. Buyers want to feel that way and sellers want to feel that they got top dollar for their home. One thing to consider when making an offer on a home is to have your Realtor provide the recent sold data and sales prices for similar homes. This way you can make an informed offer.

Although many have stated that real estate has shifted to a buyer's market recently, when you make an offer to buy someones home it is more emotional for the seller than the buyer. Therefore, if you make an offer to them that is too low it becomes and insult to them and they may walk away from your offer without any negotiation at all.

If you are looking to buy a home that fits your needs and you love it, get professional help to assist you in setting an offer price. Best of luck to you in finding your new home.

The best "rule of thumb" I could give you is to use a knowledgeable realtor to assist you. That realtor will start with recent comparables and will be personally familiar with these recent comparables in addition to the written information provided from a multitude of sources available to you and the realtor. Secondly, first hand knowledge of additional information such as seller's motivation, seller's plans, anticipated changes in the community, etc will allow you to fine tune your offer using your realtors inside information. In a slower market ,typical today, take the time to negotiate the price. Don't go in with your final price in the original offer, but have a good idea what that final price is to help you avoid an emotional decision.