Making an offer

It all depends on the seller. Lowball offers are often rejected. A complete rejection tells you that you are nowhere near where they want to be. They did counteroffer you by saying you are way off base. So, if you want to keep bidding, you will have to go higher :D

A reasonable offer will most of the time be countered until agreement is reached.

You probably came in too far below their minimum. Your broker should give you some background. If your offer is too low, they can come back and say that they are not prepared to counteroffer because they don't think it's a serious offer. If that's the case and you are increase to a level where they think there may be a deal in the cards, they will come back with a counter.

If they are negotiating with someone else, I am surprised they wouldn't try to get you to raise your price quickly. Frankly I am surprised they didn't do that whether or not they are talking to others.

I would push the broker to get more information before taking any further action.

Didn't mean to be repetitive. Was posting at the same time as gcondo. I would ask the broker for more info through before going higher. How much lower than ask did you go? Was the ask reasonable?

We put in an offer back in September 25% below asking. They did not come back with a counter offer either... Which we expected becuase we were asking so low. Now the apartment is still on the market and priced at the offer we asked back in September and we don't want it (thank goodness they did not accept our bid!). So I would probably not bid any higher and just wait.

Then in December we saw another place we liked. Considered offering 25% off again--But this time we had our broker feel out the buyer (ask the buyer's broker if a bid of this amount would be considered). And the broker said if we put in that bid, he/she thinks the seller would work with us. We ended up not putting in the bid becuase we weren't 100% sure we want the apartment. (This place is also still on the market). But it was nice to know ahead of time that our price would be considered and this time it was helpful to have a broker working for us... to feel out the situation.

Aren't so many of us lucky that our deals fell through a few months ago?!

They may be trying to induce you to bid against yourself. My advise would be to relax and enjoy the weekend.

Sorry - advice.

West81st--I agree and I'm trying to sit tight--its just so hard!

lo888--I offered about 20% lower than asking price.

uws--20% below isn't an across-the-board formula. If the seller has already priced a 20% discount into his asking price, then he's not going to be interested in bringing it down ANOTHER 20%. Did you look at comps? How was the apartment priced in comparison?

I didn't use 20% because I thought it was an across-the-board formula. I used it because thats what I can afford. So unfortunately my hands are tied. Guess I'll just wait it out or move onto to a lower cost apartment.

Thanks for all the comments!

you can't expect a seller to negotiate down to what you can afford. almost the same as using a 20% across the board formula

uws--that's fair enough. Have faith! Your hands are not tied. Prices will continue to fall. If you can wait, you just might be able to get this (or better) at a price that works for you.

Contact the seller's agent. You thought that you might get a counter offer. You still like the apartment but, for the time, you will keep looking. Mention that if the seller should change their fiscal expectations that the agent should get in touch with you. At the very least you will get a call if someone makes a bit and, if the bid falls apart, you might snatch that apartment for a great price. Sellers sell about as often as buyers buy. There is emotion on both sides of the fence. When a property sits for long periods of time and then an 'almost' deal falls apart a seller can become jumpy and need do rid themselves fast of the property. That's where you, the patient alternate, come in. Start planting those seeds. There is always another deal.

Squid - If the seller has already priced a 20% discount into his asking price, then he's not going to be interested in bringing it down ANOTHER 20%. Did you look at comps? How was the apartment priced in comparison?

But what I find is some of these original prices had no business starting at the levels they did. So even though they are "drastically reduced" 20-25%, as agents like to say, there is still room for drops.

I personally don't take into account how much the price has been "dropped" already, I take my discount off of the current Ask. It did not trade 25% higher at the original Ask because no one was willing to pay that number and should still trade at 15-20% (at least) off of the new Ask.

we (hubby and I as principals, not me as an agent) put in an offer 18% below asking on a Downtown Junior 4 -- with instructions to the agent that the number could move up, but that we needed to free up some cash first -- and did not receive a counter.

Now the seller has other bids and wants us back in the auction!

ali r.
{downtown broker}

uwswannab,
if your offer, regardless of how much down and etc., is the top of what you can afford, that's it. Just wait and be patient. There's a chance it's the best offer they'll ever get. I mean, unless they're listing at a 2004 price, I think they're making a huge mistake not negotiating with somebody who is only lowballing 20%.

Enjoy the weekend and when they come back to you, cut your offer another 10%.

Skeptical - some prices may not have been adjusted but others have so it's not appropriate to just assume that a further 20% is in order on all deals. This is the dilemma facing so many sellers now - if they price the apartment in anticipation of lowball bids, brokers call them unreasonable and may not even agree to list it. If they price realistically taking into consider comps and condition, they still have people insisting that a further 20% reduction is in order. Buyers should look at comps when deciding how to bid.

The other thing is that although I am in total agreement that we have a ways to go (down), we have not hit bottom yet and so if you want an apartment at bottom prices, you may just have to wait. For a decent number of sales, buyers in the market right now have to either pay a number that in my estimation is still about halfway between last summer's prices and the bottom or they may have to wait. I doubt all sellers are ready to drop 40%. That is why there is stagnation but it's very real and so if you can't wait, you may have to pay a little more than you would in a few months to get something right now.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with placing a bid in the 20%+ below ask range. If something is priced that far out of whack I assume either delusion or game playing and I have no interest. But that might be different if I was looking at higher end apts.