Hi Lorac07:

I think the best resource is to find out what other comparable homes in the area you are considering purchasing have listed and sold for. It is best to review recent home transactions. Then from there you can make an educated offer on a property. This will help you from over paying for a property. There is no set limit on how little below asking price you can offer on a home. But, ultimately it will be the owners decision on how much they are willing to accept. You may want to be cautious when bidding though because Sellers do sometimes become insulted if an offer is very low and may not want to deal with the Buyer. I guess the best suggestion is to make an educated & fair offer for the property. Try and work with the Seller to come to a reasonable price you both feel comfortable with. As far as how long a house has been on the market your Realtor can tell you that it reflects as DOM on the listing sheet. But, make sure they run a history report to see if the home was on with another realtor prior to the current broker. Finding the best deal coincides with finding an experianced intelligent realtor to help guide you through the homebuying process. Work with a Buyers Agent.

Lorac,

If you are working directly with a real estate professionak, he/she will walk you through the process. Agents understand the business and know how to best support their customers.

Sounds like you are going solo.......

Good luck, it could be a rough trip alone.

There is not an absolute "rule of thumb". Every seller has different reasons for selling and depending on what they are will determine what they will end up accepting for a property. One of the best tools you can use in presenting an offer is a sold history of what has sold in the specific area and which is as similar to the house you are bidding on. If you don't have one, get yourself a good Buyer's Agent and have them generate sold 'comps" to review before you come up with an offer price. You have to look at days on the market, price reduction history, listing history (has it been on the market multiple times), etc.

Once you have a buyers agent all those answers will freely flow to you. No general rule of thumb per se... is a case by case basis. Good luck. For more relevant info, visit our website below or our blog from our site.