Reduction of an Accepted Offer

The same situation happened to me and I wasn't given good advice by my broker and I didn't change my offer.

too late.. you should have negotiated better or did better homework

If the contract hasn't been signed by both of you, just tell the seller you've changed your mind but might reconsider.

Never too late til contract is signed and counter-signed. You could try to renegotiate but the seller may not budge. When did the other apartment close, by the way? The nicer kitchen, by the way, should have some bearing on the price, especially if it has considerably better appliances and finishes.

It's not to late if the contracts is not final. Just tell the seller you have new info and would like to renegotiate. If they won't then you have a choice to either walk away and play hard ball or just go forward with the offer. It will probably all depend on how much the sellers want to sell. Good luck!

That seems more like sour grapes. You were happy with your deal, so just focus on that. Also, if you are seeing the closing price now, it is a deal that would have been completed many months ago, and things seem to have gone up since then.

I negotiated a 3% reduction in the orally accepted offer I made on the condo I purchased a few months back. I wrote a detailed letter with comps in the building and said I would be willing to sign a contract immediately if the sellers agreed to the price reduction. They balked and tried to get a higher offer, even held back on returning signed contracts at the lower price for a few days. I now own the apartment.

How much credibility do you have to just walk away? Asking for a reduction based on a just-closed unit feels very justified from a buyer's perspective, but like annoying nibbling fom the seller's perspective, especially since the unit closed at a higher price. A succesful ask for a concession depends on whether walking away is a credible threat and how quickly and at what price the seller could replace you.

This unit in particular has been on the market 30+ days and has had several offers (from what we're told), including one that went to contract and fell through.

According to SE, the closing date was 5/10, so this unit was still showing in contract when we were looking but nevertheless we now see it.

The seller really wants to make a deal and we're financially qualified and have, at this point, an accepted offer of 3.5% below ask.

We're trying to weigh everything but as first time home-buyers. we are just wanting to ensure that we're not overpaying.

Wait. The offer was submitted to the seller after the OP checked the comps, or didn't check the comps because how did the other apartment 7 floors up in the same building get missed?

So that other apt closed at 13k more than the accepted offer -- not LESS than the accepted offer?
The kitchen reno in the accepted offer is nicer. Want to pay 13k MORE for it?

buster: if another apt in the same line, 7 floors up was already in contract, the OP could wait to see where it closed and risked the apt he was interested in being sold to another buyer.
The negotiation was based on some comps from other buildings in that neighborhood, on that block, but not in that same building.
13k less, nicer kitchen reno and the unit has lower cc's because of the lower floor.

I think the seller can get another buyer.

pittsburgh: your situation isn't the same as the OP.
You have a very motivated seller at this point.

In this instance, are we justified in leaving our offer price as it stands and requesting another concession on the sellers part?

We love the unit, but when an equally nice unit is not very much more money, I am concerned that we overbid. The OP's situation is somewhat similar, but I'm clearly more concerned with my deal now :).

Similarly, this unit had just gone into contract when we started looking and was listed for more than $50K more than our unit, so we were comfortable with that, but when the margin closes to less than $15K then I get nervous.

There's no justified or not here - if you have more leverage than them, you can get a reduction effected. But having more leverage might involve being willing to walk away or at least representing that you are.

pittsburg. You did not "accept an offer". You are negotiating and your counter-offer was accepted by the seller.
Until you and the seller have signed the contract you can resume that negotiation and ask for something in return for taking the place off their hands.

Thanks all. Like I said, this is our first home purchase (scary that a "starter" home can cost this much!) so we aren't well versed and don't have a broker we can trust, we moved here from another city and didn't get great referrals.

Our lawyer has been helpful and will be handling the negotiation once we sort out what we're doing. That is correct though, at this point our lawyers are negotiating the contract and nothing has been signed.

@pittsburgh431 - There is no justified. Its a negotiation between 2 parties. As long as you don't have a signed contract you are free to renegotiate or even pull the offer. If you really think your offer is too high based on some other apartment's selling price and if you haven't signed the contract you are free to pull or update your offer, you just have to be willing to walk away if they sellers don't accept your new, lower offer.

Or just go back to where you were on the deal.
They say "no", you tried. You are only trying and at this point the seller doesn't want you to walk away and doesn't want to drop his price way down as the other apt seller did.

You are only overpaying if you can get that other apt for a lower price but it's already been sold. You're talking about a less than 15k margin. Can you find something similar for that price? Maybe.

This happened recently on a unit on lower fifth ave our clients had an accepted offer on. We bid with the understanding that a similar unit was priced at X, but when it finally hit ACRIS it was quite a bit lower.

Our clients advised us that they wanted to submit a new lower bid (we had an accepted offer, contracts out)based on this new information. I certainly understood their feelings, but thought this would go nowhere and I can't say I felt great about going back after we already had an accepted offer after a protracted and difficult negotiation.

I put on my game face and laid out our case. They accepted our new offer (not happily I may add).

So it is possible. And since the contract is not signed I think you can make a good case that it is fair play. Of course the seller's side may tell you to take a walk. Then you will have to factor in the "emotional components" to decide how to proceed.

Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group

Keith B, 237 w 19th...Have you seen the A line? i think its the ground floor...I saw you had the triplex uptop before...how many units in that one little building? thanks..