It totally depends on where you are purchasing the house and it varies from month to month and year to year. Your agent should be able to provide these statistics for you at the time that you are actually ready to bid on a property.

There is a lot to consider before I could answer that, such as comparative sales in that area, condition of the house, location. Was it overpriced to begin with and etc.

In this market you can expect offers between $500,000 and $550,000. Of course that depends on how close to comparative sales your house is priced. If it is pretty close to numbers then you may get a higher offer. If it is overpriced you may not have to worry about it because you may not even get a showing. My advice to you would be to ask your Realtor for an honest evaluation of your home price and then list at that price. The Realtors are the ones who have their fingers on the pulse of the market...kind of like the Real Estate Doctor!

List to Sales price is total crap. Original to Sales price is useful. The reports we get from a realtor have List to Sales ratio but they do have Original price on them so you can find the real ratio. From what I've seen in Scarsdale and Ardsley, List to Sales has been in the 90-95% range, Original to Sales has been consistently below 90%.

I agree with Don Tepper, the answers below are accurate (especially mine) but only reflect past statistics. Through the MLS, we have all the past list and sale prices and can easily compute ratios-95%, 90% or whatever. However a buyer must impute his or her own predictions on the future of the market and make offers according to those predictions and their own comfort level. Ultimately the prices are set through agreement of buyer and seller, not the realtor. Also ask yourself how badly do you want this house? In our little town of pelham new york for example every house is architecturally different and unique. We have had multiple bids on several houses this season. On the other hand the 9 houses sold so far this year took an average of 7 months to sell.

Howard,
remember the source when consider ing the answers you receive. what do you expect the real estate brokers to tell you... take into consideration what is really happening in the market nation wide and locally and that most sellers are refusing to admit that their property will not get would it could have got a few years ago. That said, 75-85% is probably on the mark, as a ball park for the majority of the market in westchester. Pay 97% as suggested below and I got a bridge to sell you also!!!

The answers below are, I'm sure, accurate. But I don't know if they tell the entire story. For example, let's suppose that house was originally listed for $649,000, but the price was reduced to $599,000. It sells for 95% of that--or $569,050. However, what doesn't show on the sales price--though agents do have access to this information--is that this hypothetical sale also involved a 3% seller's subsidy. So the "real" sales price, once the subsidy is included, is $551,979.

So, although it's entirely accurate to say that the house that was listed for $599,000 sold for $569,050, or 95% of the listed price. However, it may be more useful to see that the house that was listed for $649,000 sold for a net of $551,979...or just 85% of what it was initially listed for.

The point is: What is the house truly worth? What do the comps say? How motivated are the sellers? And how good a negotiator are you and your agent?

Hope that helps.

Howard, I am the top selling agent in the Pelham and New Rochelle zone and my agency brokers almost half the sales in the town. I am finding buyers are looking for updated information on the market. Based on the first 3 months of sales in 2008, the list to sale average was 95%. Holly Mellstrom, Associate Broker C. S. McClellan Real Estate.

Dear Howard,
List to sale price average out at about 97% in the 10803 area. The 27 minute train ride and our excellent schools have kept our market here very strong.