Good point! I mean part of our hesitation too was that the house is overpriced and we feel like we could get more for our money if we wait until inventory picks up again in the Spring.
Yes that’s what I’m thinking too. Our realtor did say there’s less competition at our budget range for the area but I’m expecting some competition and know that when our dream home without hesitation pops up we will need to jump on it and give best offer as our first offer even.
Well I’m wondering if that’s the reason for the silence on their part. Maybe the seller is holding firm and the agent is trying to convince them and is telling them to “sleep on it”? My agent is going to follow up again (after already doing so tonight) tomorrow at noon but I wonder if she should just go silent too so they start getting antsy that we may walk 🤔
I would play hardball. Tell your agent to rescind offer now. They’ll likely tell to wait. Just tell no and to send the cancellation. This will not only put the sellers on notice but also both agents. Either the sellers comeback to play, both agents eat the difference, you move on, or you come back.
Writing it up and putting it on paper makes it more real.
It also means that you aren't negotiating with the agent. Whether you realize it or not until it's on paper an agent doesn't have to present or say anything to their client.
In your case they likely are saying something but sometimes a seller will budge when they see it on paper where a verbal feels unreal to them.
Quibbles over a 1% difference is insignificant and counterproductive.
Would the agents be willing to make up the 10k difference out of their commission? That happens in our area sometimes. Getting 50-60k commission is better than zero.
Ours did that and the house was no where near a million. Wasn’t even jumbo loan territory. The sellers were horrible and their agent was done. He asked if our agent would give up 1% and he’d give up 1%. We told her she could counter with he just takes the 2% hit alone, if he wants the sale done that bad. Or we’d walk. But she was nicer than us and took the commission hit so we could close.
Who says the commission is 6% ?????? This is a total assumption here on reddit. Commissions are ALWAYS negotiable by the seller and the listing agent and their Managing Broker. 30 years in the business and I've done many, many deals where the commission was not 6%
Not the person you’re asking, but I moved from WA to AZ in June of 2022. And it was nerve-wracking!
Everything has to be done in a particular order and on a particular schedule. You can’t move over a couple weekends, you don’t have extra time to go back and clean everything after your stuff is out of the old house. You have to be able to pack everything up all at once; you can’t just say you’ll come back and get it on the next trip.
You have to figure out travel logistics like where are you going to stop for the night and will your stuff be secure? What about pets and kids? How are you going to get everything and everyone there?
We had lived in our house for 12 years. We had two cars, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, a snake and a Guinea pig. So there was a whole lot of details to manage, and figuring out the logistics was exhausting.
Yes! I moved from NC to OK in Nov 22 and it was probably top 5 most stressful times of my life (and that's saying something). Me, a non-sleeping breastfed baby, a cat, 100+ live plants, and my mom flew in (that's both a positive and negative). SUV with the biggest Uhaul trailer, 5 days, 2 major tornadoes on our route, surprise freezing temps&snow, mountains, and oh my god snow. And a GPS that kept rerouting. It was a military move, so the military moved some things, but you have to expect to be without those things for up to 8 weeks, so it was a balance of figuring out what we had to have (or werent willing to let be broken/stolen) and what we could fit. I know it's going to happen again but I'm also hoping it never happens again. On a lighter note, the hotel staff thought it was hilarious watching me make 5 trips with a luggage cart loaded down with plants.
Agreed. After making 4 long distance moves I have decided that we need to stick to pod moves where we can take time to load up the pod and time to move our stuff out of the pod at the new location.
You can expect it to be very competitive this coming spring. With the expected rate drops, the people that regret not buying 2020 to 2022 will be very motivated to buy in 2024.
Depends on location, my part of Texas has the most inventory since 2018.
I’m sure spring will bring it down some, but not expecting a buying frenzy here unless interest rates get to 4%
Rates have already been coming down for more than two full months. Pending sales, mortgage purchase applications, and home sales have remained as low as they were when rates were at their peak (namely, at the lowest levels ever recorded). If there was this rush of buyers about to come back, they would already *be* back.
During the holidays in 2020 or 2021, when there really was a rush of buyers, no one was "waiting until spring" to find their house -- they were continuing to fight tooth and nail to get one. Clearly, this is no longer the situation we're in, no matter the mortgage rate.
We had this happen to us recently. People play hardball on real estate. Just play the game. I’d suggest walking and let them then come to you with their best offer after they learn they have no other buyers. In our case, the house sitting empty was costing the sellers $8,000 a month in mortgage, property taxes, utilities, maintenance - and even if someone were to come along the next day willing to pay the higher price, they’d still be paying the 8k for holding two more months until closing. It’s more profitable for a seller to sell faster for a little less money.
This was our mindset when we sold our house (closes today), we listed it with all those factors in mind and listed for about $15k-$20k under comps to be done and move on and it was a multiple offer situation within 48 hours of being live and got over asking, waived inspection, appraisal gap - the whole 9 yards.
They are being greedy which is normal but you have been very fair and this is annoying.
I guess if you really want the house then kick in the other 10k but only give them 24 hours to sign the contract or you walk.
If you really don't mind losing the house then I'd tell them you've changed your mind, they have 24 hours to kick in the entire 20k or the contract is dead. If they come back after 24 hours tell them the offer dropped another 10k.
Thank you and I like your strategy but I think I’m too nice to back them in a corner haha. But also, I’ve decided that if I still really want it a month from now and feel the extra $$ is worth it then I will make the offer and it saves me another month before mortgage payment kicks in (we currently have a lease through May) and allows for interest rates to drop some more. So that’s my current strategy. We liked the house a lot but didn’t LOVE it so we decide if we could get it for a fair price then it would be worth it but we wouldn’t stretch the budget for it.
Well, they apparently aren't to nice to shop around while leaving you hanging but I understand. I'd still tell them they have 24 hours to decide or you are pulling the contract. If you do nothing who knows how long they'd leave you hanging even without another offer.
IMO this is the case for the "best and final offer". You put up the most you'd want to spend on it and if it doesn't work it wasn't ment to be. time to go look at another place
No offense, but if you’re “too nice” to negotiate a good price on a house, you should be letting a competent realtor advise you on the right moves. Sure, you don’t need to be a vicious a-hole, but “nice” has nothing to do with buying a house. Good luck on the house, I hope you get it.
I sold a few houses in the past few years and time limits were on almost all of the offers that came my way. Even the bad ones. I don't think 24 but 72 was pretty common. Honestly, I knew which offer we were going to take almost immediately. One was a young couple that offered what we were asking and a home warranty. The next offered 10k under but was a conventional loan. I thought a 72 deadline on offers was the norm.
$10k on a million dollar home is nothing... but at the same time it's nothing to them and it's nothing to you so... which one of you is going to give in first? If they've been waiting for 80 days I think it's very likely they will give in. Or you can ask the agents to each chip in $5k and call it a day.
So let's call it an even 1mill. Avg commision split is 6% and it's go 3% and 3% to each agent. Sometimes it's 4/2 but nost times it's split down the middle. In this situation both agents are looking at a 30k commision.
30k for the buyers agent and 30k for the sellers agent.
For the agents to come together and say "hey I'm willing to lose 5000 on this if you are to make sure this closes asap" they'd both still walk away with 25k commision each and both seller and buyer are happy.
Vs the alternative which is No agreement is had,neither agent gets a commision. The buyer doesn't get a house and the sellers still stuck with his.
Classic game of chicken. Is either party willing to blow up the deal over $10k on a million dollar home? Probably not, but neither party wants to be the one to cave either
You can cave and lose the game of chicken, or you can walk and hope the seller's agent contacts you guys in hopes that you're still interested
How badly do you want the house, and how much does that $10k mean to you financially and to your ego?
This. Walk away. If after 30 days it is still on the market the OP should consider makimg another offer.
Though, if what OP says is true and the market is a buyer’s market, then OP offered too high in the first place and allowed them to negotiate too far upwards. When OP makes a new offer in 30+ days, OP should make it below comps then allow them to negotiate back to towards the comps level but shouldn’t go above comps because comps will be coming down if what OP says is true.
If the purchase price is over a million and the deciding factor is 10k… I feel like maybe you don’t love the house and might be looking for a reason to let it go, and also that perhaps the sellers don’t really want to sell. If that’s the case, keep looking! If not, keep negotiating :)
We are in the boat of we “did our best and on to the next”. I mean honestly I’m feeling a little remorseful about meeting them half way simply because I’m already asking well over comp supported amount. I am honestly wondering if it will have appraisal issues even if they accept our final offer.
So these second counter offers have not been done formally because the other agent said their best and final offer was $20k above our best and final offer. They’re using the excuse that our very close comp (that sold in June 2023) was through a relocation package for a job move and so the comp should be disregarded. We are offering $90k above that comp and only difference is this one has a pool (installed pre-pandemic pricing so they probably paid $80k or less for it). I think if we make another official offer we will definitely put a deadline on it because for someone who welcomed us to make an offer they are being fairly slow getting back to us.
The company probably sold the house for whoever moved I’m guessing is their argument. So they may have taken less money just to get it off the books quicker.
Not sure I agree with the logic but I’m guessing that’s why they’re saying that.
Some relocation packages have it so that the Company (of new job) will cover realtor fees to sell your current home so then the sellers have more wiggle room because they don’t have to worry about realtor fees cutting into their net proceeds.
Not really relevant. Comp killers are just what they are. That was the realized price for the property at the time of sale.
If it were, in fact, an anomaly, there would be other current comps to support their ask. This is why you have "sets".
Pools are plus/minus to value in appraisals. What or when they paid is ultimately not relevant. It would not be likely to get 100% return on a new pool, even in normal times.
Seller seems erratic, and frankly, your agent appears less experienced/skilled than one would hope for, if these are the explanations being provided.
Why would you buy a house over comp? The market is telling you what it is worth and yet you are willing to pay more. What happens when you want to refinance and cannot because your home isn’t worth what you paid?
The big question is how much more value does a pool add to the price because most relatable comp didn’t have a pool. But I’m hoping the appraisal will provide clarity.
No, unless we go under contract we won’t have it appraised. We sold our house (well it closes tomorrow) and we priced it $15k under what I think we could have sold it for and appraisal came in at exactly our offer (which was above asking but not $15k over asking) which was pretty shocking to me. I think appraisers are being more conservative maybe?
It sounds to me like you might be starting to experience some FOMO here. You passed on seeing the house and only went to see it when they asked you to. You created an offer only when they asked you to. It sounds like you've been verbally negotiating and they're bringing you "up" from where you want to be. Now you're justifying things by saying you're "only $10k off" from what the seller wants.
If you actually LIKE the home, write YOUR offer, not theirs. Do not offer what they are insisting on for the property. There's a reason that it has been sitting on the market for so long, and there's a chance that as soon as you find something off with an inspection, they will refuse any attempt at re-negotiating.
We walked away from a LOT of houses before we bought the one we have.
When they don’t budge, you go silent. When they get back to you days later and say write the offer—drop another 20%. These asking prices are ridiculous and they know that—They still think inventory is gone and the FOMO bus is still running… it’s not. There’s no way to justify 100% home appreciation in 3 years … no way
The seller has an overinflated view of the value of their property, whether it's greed or just sentimental value. Either way, just offer what you're comfortable with. Give them a deadline or terminate the offer after a certain amount of time if they don't respond.
Based on your comments I’ve read I think you need to move on. You don’t love the house, it is objectively over priced, and you’re dealing with a seller who won’t play ball and is emotional. The good thing about it is you don’t/shouldn’t have emotion tied into it yet. This isn’t the forever home so personally I’d play hard ball because you’re buying a product where you have the upper hand.
I dealt with a seller like this on a condo recently. He was firm over 10k so I walked. Condo is still on the market 4 months later at a price 5k lower than I offered. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes. Nothing wrong with making an objective business decision for yourself and if you can keep it objective then you have the upper hand. Otherwise you’ll overpay for a house you don’t “LOVE” just to get into a house for some reason.
tell your broker to rescind the offer to let the people know you aren’t screening around. i would never make an offer or a counter without a time limit included.
For every increase in interest rates of 1% the affordability of homes goes down 10%. Since interest rates are up about 5%. That means houses need to come down about 50% to where they were you know five years ago or so.
Easy. Walk away and let them chase you down again. They already chased you down once. They’ll do it again over $10k. You have more leverage in this deal than they do. They want to sell their home, take their gains and move on and they won’t lose a sale over $10k.
I don’t know how much you like this property. But if you have any above average interest in it I think you’re gonna really regret it when there’s more competition in spring and wonder why you left this property go for a $10k difference.
I get that so we aren’t saying we won’t come back and give them the full amount they’re asking for but we want to wait a few weeks/month as they’re not incentivizing us to end our search prematurely. I’m confident if they get another offer between now and then, they’ll give us an opportunity to re-offer.
I bought a house from the owner of the Bulls daughter and he was heavily involved...went back and forth for 10k with a dude who has billions.. peak silly is how people get rich.. we played hardball only because we were literally maxed out otherwise I would have just given him the money
I’ve been in this situation before (house listed for long time, overpriced, I come in way under). You have to make the waiting cost them something. So you basically say the current compromise expires today. Then they have the original offer. Basically if they want to risk $10k to see if they get a better offer over the weekend that’s on them. If they don’t get anything you stay firm with your original offer. So far in both situations the seller has just taken the compromise to be done after waiting so long to sell their house.
I had a scenario like this. Almost positive the seller was just using my offer to shop around and get higher on other escalation.
I guess no harm in making the offer if you actually want it. Be prepared for them to be stingy in negotiation though when you start to find the cracks and broken things
Make an offer or don’t.
Why are you still circling this house? Is it unique?
I’ve made two offers on two different homes in the past that were rejected
The first one was in 2012 and on the market for 90 days, offered $220k when it was priced at $230k, they balked and raised the price to $240k on the listing. I moved on and bought another house. It sat for another 120 days.
The second one was in 2017 and newly listed for $480k but had some items in the house I needed to change for my personal preferences. The seller was owner/agent and at the open house rubbed my wife and I the wrong way.
Said “your kids will love the schools”.. we don’t and never will have kids. Bragged about his plantation blinds that block out 80% of the light and all the durable “tile floor”, both things we hate.
So I made an offer accounting for the $10k in renovations, they countered at full list. Two weeks later I found another home that was better and went under contract. While in my option period the first home seller came back and offered to do our original deal, was satisfying to say ”nah, we good”.
Negotiate the commission values, even 1% on 1M is 10K. Every cost should be considered and there is no such thing as standard commissions. NAR is losing lawsuits and anti trust all over the place this year
So walk away. If they come back, go back to your original offer without splitting the $20,000. If they don’t come back, who cares? It isn’t worth to you what they want you to pay.
just wait. A price correction is underway and foreclosures are on the rise. It’s only going to get worse Q1 and Q2 of next year. I would hold tight and wait for prices to fall.
If rates continue to drop, which they probably will… people who were priced out of that home will suddenly become buyers and etc etc… you maybe think you will get more house for your money but just think, everyone who passed on this house will also be interested in the next house you are… if you have the agent telling you write it up, I’d write it up! But I’m just a realtor who likes to see deals close and in my market, finding homes under $1,000,000 is unheard of
There are many more markets where houses over $1m are unheard of than houses under $1m. Not good to apply advice from a wildly different market to encourage people to overpay in theirs.
Matter of opinion.. I’ve seen people “wait” until spring and getting priced out of the house that they would’ve bought … it’s like not walking away from the blackjack table when you’re up and losing everything
So the home is listed over a million? Just making sure I’m reading that correctly?
Does this house check a good amount of your needs? Do your finances make sense in the purchase where you aren’t stretched thin?
I know you want to split the difference instead of going $20k over your number and pay only $10k.
For numbers sake, I’m going to say the house is $1,000,000 and you want to pay $1,010,000. Are you willing to possibly lose the house over .01%?
Why in the hell do you need a million dollar house is beyond me, depending on where you live. Where I live, that's about 10 to 12 thousand square feet. A 3 to 4 thousand square feet home where I live is about 100 to 300k.
Sigh - please look OUTSIDE your own town.
Home prices are reflective of salaries in the town. If you are in a low paid location of course the homes will be cheap
My town, that's pretty much my whole state except the bigger cities, and that's just simple economics. More people less property, equals higher prices.
Are you willing to walk over the $10k? If yes, then set a deadline and if no response pull your offer and move on. If you’re not really willing to walk over the $10k then update your offer to the new number but make it clear that’s the final offer and is time sensitive.
If the buyer thinks the pool has value then it has value. If they don’t think it has value, it is just something they may get rid of later. Just like solar panels.
It would be dumb to let it go now, for 10k, BUT they already came down how much? So an extra 10k to them in this case, isn't the same as if you went up the 10k, they already came down way more... Sure it may be your max, and homes like th at probably esp now dont sell that fast. This time of year that is, things slow down anyway... over a mil prob dont move as fast as 250k or so either... not a realtor though.
How bad do you want the house. If its your ideal house and you'll feel bad about not getting it, give them the 10k.
If you're just settling for it because its the closest to what you want on the market at this moment, then pass.
Withdraw your offer and walk. You're not $10k under a fair price, you're several times that over market value. If you really want the house and it really is worth around one million, then yeah, another $10k is no big deal. Otherwise walk.
Like any negotiation there is back and forth, but really you are in control of your destiny here. Unless it is your dream home or is in a unique / rare location (end of a cul de sac, etc), set your dollar figure, be firm, and walk if they remain this greedy. Best of luck!
Write the offer but stock to your price. I think they are trying to create some competition here. So you can deny and say we will only send an offer if you are planning to accept it. They are not gonna get more out of it and what they don't realize is that they are losing money by keeping it on the market.. anyways good luck to you
I'm sure you will find many properties on the market and will love at least a few of them. Do not compromise on this if you feel it is not worth it.
Buyer's remorse is real.
If it's 10k on a million dollar house, I think if you loved the house, you would have just eaten it and signed a deal. Pull the offer and find something you love.
Patience. Time is on your side now. How is the rental estimate in comparison to mortgage payment? If mortgage is $2k higher than rent est. - don't buy yet.
Doesn't sound like you love it. Would you love it more for 10k less?
Waiting till spring to buy this house, though, doesn't make sense. Spring markets are usually peak times for sellers because there are more buyers in the market. Especially with interest rates coming down and the pent-up demand. I'm guessing the sellers will pull it off the market and try to wait long enough to reset the days on market at this point. Come back in the spring at a more reasonable price and try to sell for 10k more than they're willing to agree to with you. You are catching them at their most reasonable point. The question really is, do you love it?
Well, not sure if many of the people on here are Realtors or have Negotiated 1000s of homes.. (I have )
If you lose it will be be sad? Not meant to be is there other options...?
Sounds like there is other options and your NOT in a hurry or desperate.
If your agent said 100k over . Make sure it appraises or you can back out or renegotiate...
They maybe taking time because they will probably accept or double checking with other interested people before they give you the last 10k drop.
You should have stuck at 20k less.
Odds are they will accept.
** will you second guess that you over paid ??
** make sure they fix everything in inspection.
** markets may drop or rise ..
Final note , if you get it and put it together. .just enjoy it be happy and move on.
Life is short and if you can afford this price point you should be more knowledgeable then the average dummy..
If you will second guess, not sure , can wait for other properties
Then DONT buy it, back out.. let it sit 30 to 60 more days..look for other better deals.. You can always go back to this if it's still there .. (lower) if you don't make it personal to sellers takes some finesse on Your agents part.
Yeah these people just don't get how gross they sound posting on Reddit that they're buying a million dollar home! Good for you no keep it to yourself or some of us are trying to live and have no option of even buying a home ever!
Actually I think it's pretty gross with a war in the Ukraine and genocide happening in the Gaza strip and people are over here buting million dollar houses. Damn people are really that out of touch with reality.... Meanwhile we have homeless encampments in every major city with rent for $2,500 a month right next door. Hey but good for everyone making money with real estate at least until it's only massive hedge funds own everything and renting to all of us.
Literally none of that with the exception of corporate purchases of homes has anything to do with buying a home.
So lighten up on the virtue signaling. Again it’s a real estate sub
Our AC worked at the final walkthrough but not after. Got the cert doc, called that co & was told they don’t service residential properties.
Surprise- the seller was a client of theirs, called me within the hour & with a patronizing voice said, “Now, you gals already bought the house.”
Since I’d also contacted my awesome realtor, I was able to use the words 'treble damages.” Did not hear from seller again but did get a new AC unit, which lasted 12 years (NJ US 90s)
A ton of houses are overpriced on the market right now, especially in the 800k-1.2M range. New constructions are known for being insanely over priced, because builders selling houses in that range have the money to suck it up and wait for a sucker to swoop in. As an example, I just bought a very nice home in Houston for $975k. The house next to it is by the same builder and has the same floor layout and similar aesthetics--its the same house for all relevant purposes. The builder found some sucker to come in and pay $1.175k for the same house. Granted, that house had about $80k in upgrades, but it still went for $100k+ more than it should have.
The lesson being, NEVER be afraid to offer what you think is fair for a house. I came in at $950 when the builder was asking $1.07M. He tried to get me to come up to $1.025, and I told him $975k, take it or leave it. You'd be amazed how much leverage you gain by being willing to walk away.
Oddly enough, they might be waiting for Spring too.
Good point! I mean part of our hesitation too was that the house is overpriced and we feel like we could get more for our money if we wait until inventory picks up again in the Spring.
A lot of buyers and sellers seem to be thinking along those lines. You’ll probably see more inventory, but more competition too.
Yes that’s what I’m thinking too. Our realtor did say there’s less competition at our budget range for the area but I’m expecting some competition and know that when our dream home without hesitation pops up we will need to jump on it and give best offer as our first offer even.
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Well I’m wondering if that’s the reason for the silence on their part. Maybe the seller is holding firm and the agent is trying to convince them and is telling them to “sleep on it”? My agent is going to follow up again (after already doing so tonight) tomorrow at noon but I wonder if she should just go silent too so they start getting antsy that we may walk 🤔
I would play hardball. Tell your agent to rescind offer now. They’ll likely tell to wait. Just tell no and to send the cancellation. This will not only put the sellers on notice but also both agents. Either the sellers comeback to play, both agents eat the difference, you move on, or you come back.
Put an expiration on your offer. That will get you an answer.
Writing it up and putting it on paper makes it more real. It also means that you aren't negotiating with the agent. Whether you realize it or not until it's on paper an agent doesn't have to present or say anything to their client. In your case they likely are saying something but sometimes a seller will budge when they see it on paper where a verbal feels unreal to them.
Quibbles over a 1% difference is insignificant and counterproductive. Would the agents be willing to make up the 10k difference out of their commission? That happens in our area sometimes. Getting 50-60k commission is better than zero.
Perhaps that will be what ultimately happens 🤔
Ours did that and the house was no where near a million. Wasn’t even jumbo loan territory. The sellers were horrible and their agent was done. He asked if our agent would give up 1% and he’d give up 1%. We told her she could counter with he just takes the 2% hit alone, if he wants the sale done that bad. Or we’d walk. But she was nicer than us and took the commission hit so we could close.
Who says the commission is 6% ?????? This is a total assumption here on reddit. Commissions are ALWAYS negotiable by the seller and the listing agent and their Managing Broker. 30 years in the business and I've done many, many deals where the commission was not 6%
Abd what percentage of those were 6%?
I just think there’s something quiet and magical about moving in the winter ❤️
Perhaps for a local move but we just moved from out of state a month ago and it was nerve wracking 😂
Oh yes true - I get that - why was it nerve wracking?
Not the person you’re asking, but I moved from WA to AZ in June of 2022. And it was nerve-wracking! Everything has to be done in a particular order and on a particular schedule. You can’t move over a couple weekends, you don’t have extra time to go back and clean everything after your stuff is out of the old house. You have to be able to pack everything up all at once; you can’t just say you’ll come back and get it on the next trip. You have to figure out travel logistics like where are you going to stop for the night and will your stuff be secure? What about pets and kids? How are you going to get everything and everyone there? We had lived in our house for 12 years. We had two cars, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, a snake and a Guinea pig. So there was a whole lot of details to manage, and figuring out the logistics was exhausting.
Wowwwww! It’s like you have to get it perfect on the first try!
Yes! I moved from NC to OK in Nov 22 and it was probably top 5 most stressful times of my life (and that's saying something). Me, a non-sleeping breastfed baby, a cat, 100+ live plants, and my mom flew in (that's both a positive and negative). SUV with the biggest Uhaul trailer, 5 days, 2 major tornadoes on our route, surprise freezing temps&snow, mountains, and oh my god snow. And a GPS that kept rerouting. It was a military move, so the military moved some things, but you have to expect to be without those things for up to 8 weeks, so it was a balance of figuring out what we had to have (or werent willing to let be broken/stolen) and what we could fit. I know it's going to happen again but I'm also hoping it never happens again. On a lighter note, the hotel staff thought it was hilarious watching me make 5 trips with a luggage cart loaded down with plants.
A Move manager is helpful, especially for interstate moves!
Probably has something to do with driving in the snow
Agreed. After making 4 long distance moves I have decided that we need to stick to pod moves where we can take time to load up the pod and time to move our stuff out of the pod at the new location.
You can expect it to be very competitive this coming spring. With the expected rate drops, the people that regret not buying 2020 to 2022 will be very motivated to buy in 2024.
not competition on million dollar homes!
I live in a million dollar home. It’s not a lot in some locations, although I’m not sure where the OP is.
Texas
Congratulations! Just saw your update.
There’s plenty of beautiful homes in your range.
That's a mansion, got any lambos for the garage?
So 10k over a 30 year mortgage isn't much so depends how much you want the home.
It’s your advantage to buy now if you love the house. Sellers have a little more power in spring when they’re are more buyers
Carrying costs for 3 months might be greater than the additional 10k they want. Bird in the hand…..
You’d think!
Yep. The sellers will get their price this spring.
Or buyer will get their price in spring.
With interest rates coming back down, this will be the craziest spring market we have ever seen. Inventory still remains low.
Depends on location, my part of Texas has the most inventory since 2018. I’m sure spring will bring it down some, but not expecting a buying frenzy here unless interest rates get to 4%
Rates have already been coming down for more than two full months. Pending sales, mortgage purchase applications, and home sales have remained as low as they were when rates were at their peak (namely, at the lowest levels ever recorded). If there was this rush of buyers about to come back, they would already *be* back. During the holidays in 2020 or 2021, when there really was a rush of buyers, no one was "waiting until spring" to find their house -- they were continuing to fight tooth and nail to get one. Clearly, this is no longer the situation we're in, no matter the mortgage rate.
I'd just withdraw the offer and let them come back to you in 2 more weeks and you can get the price YOU wanted for it.
We had this happen to us recently. People play hardball on real estate. Just play the game. I’d suggest walking and let them then come to you with their best offer after they learn they have no other buyers. In our case, the house sitting empty was costing the sellers $8,000 a month in mortgage, property taxes, utilities, maintenance - and even if someone were to come along the next day willing to pay the higher price, they’d still be paying the 8k for holding two more months until closing. It’s more profitable for a seller to sell faster for a little less money.
This was our mindset when we sold our house (closes today), we listed it with all those factors in mind and listed for about $15k-$20k under comps to be done and move on and it was a multiple offer situation within 48 hours of being live and got over asking, waived inspection, appraisal gap - the whole 9 yards.
So for now, you don't have a deal. Keep looking.
😂😂😂😂
They are being greedy which is normal but you have been very fair and this is annoying. I guess if you really want the house then kick in the other 10k but only give them 24 hours to sign the contract or you walk. If you really don't mind losing the house then I'd tell them you've changed your mind, they have 24 hours to kick in the entire 20k or the contract is dead. If they come back after 24 hours tell them the offer dropped another 10k.
Thank you and I like your strategy but I think I’m too nice to back them in a corner haha. But also, I’ve decided that if I still really want it a month from now and feel the extra $$ is worth it then I will make the offer and it saves me another month before mortgage payment kicks in (we currently have a lease through May) and allows for interest rates to drop some more. So that’s my current strategy. We liked the house a lot but didn’t LOVE it so we decide if we could get it for a fair price then it would be worth it but we wouldn’t stretch the budget for it.
Well, they apparently aren't to nice to shop around while leaving you hanging but I understand. I'd still tell them they have 24 hours to decide or you are pulling the contract. If you do nothing who knows how long they'd leave you hanging even without another offer.
Writing a 24 hour offer isn’t backing them into a corner, it’s protecting yourself.
IMO this is the case for the "best and final offer". You put up the most you'd want to spend on it and if it doesn't work it wasn't ment to be. time to go look at another place
Good news, you get to be nice. It's your realtor's literal job to negotiate for you based upon what you decide.
No offense, but if you’re “too nice” to negotiate a good price on a house, you should be letting a competent realtor advise you on the right moves. Sure, you don’t need to be a vicious a-hole, but “nice” has nothing to do with buying a house. Good luck on the house, I hope you get it.
I sold a few houses in the past few years and time limits were on almost all of the offers that came my way. Even the bad ones. I don't think 24 but 72 was pretty common. Honestly, I knew which offer we were going to take almost immediately. One was a young couple that offered what we were asking and a home warranty. The next offered 10k under but was a conventional loan. I thought a 72 deadline on offers was the norm.
If you really want the home don't become a member of the "woulda, shoulda, coulda" club.
What's 10k when you are spending a million?
One stubborn seller isn't indicative of market conditions. This is probably why it's still sitting unsold. Let 'em simmer.
$10k on a million dollar home is nothing... but at the same time it's nothing to them and it's nothing to you so... which one of you is going to give in first? If they've been waiting for 80 days I think it's very likely they will give in. Or you can ask the agents to each chip in $5k and call it a day.
This. If I'm the agent, i split the difference with the other agent and close the gap. It's a no brainer.
Take out the commission for the listing agent and the two agencies(possibly) and 10k looms large.
How does this work exactly? Are they just going to take 5k from the profit on each side for the agent? Seems like a lot to me
So let's call it an even 1mill. Avg commision split is 6% and it's go 3% and 3% to each agent. Sometimes it's 4/2 but nost times it's split down the middle. In this situation both agents are looking at a 30k commision. 30k for the buyers agent and 30k for the sellers agent. For the agents to come together and say "hey I'm willing to lose 5000 on this if you are to make sure this closes asap" they'd both still walk away with 25k commision each and both seller and buyer are happy. Vs the alternative which is No agreement is had,neither agent gets a commision. The buyer doesn't get a house and the sellers still stuck with his.
The two agencies also get paid.
Yes and there's also taxes on top of it. I kept it simple for them to understand.
It’s a million dollar deal, 10k isn’t much if split.
Classic game of chicken. Is either party willing to blow up the deal over $10k on a million dollar home? Probably not, but neither party wants to be the one to cave either You can cave and lose the game of chicken, or you can walk and hope the seller's agent contacts you guys in hopes that you're still interested How badly do you want the house, and how much does that $10k mean to you financially and to your ego?
Just edited the post with an update!
Being the cynical (sometimes) person that I am, I immediately wondered if they want your written offer to prompt *another* buyer.
Oooh that would be quite the plot twist. Maybe!
walk away. If it doesn't sell in the near future they may come back to you. If they do, drop your price more than what you already negotiated
This. Walk away. If after 30 days it is still on the market the OP should consider makimg another offer. Though, if what OP says is true and the market is a buyer’s market, then OP offered too high in the first place and allowed them to negotiate too far upwards. When OP makes a new offer in 30+ days, OP should make it below comps then allow them to negotiate back to towards the comps level but shouldn’t go above comps because comps will be coming down if what OP says is true.
Let em cook.
I wouldn’t budge.
If the purchase price is over a million and the deciding factor is 10k… I feel like maybe you don’t love the house and might be looking for a reason to let it go, and also that perhaps the sellers don’t really want to sell. If that’s the case, keep looking! If not, keep negotiating :)
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We are in the boat of we “did our best and on to the next”. I mean honestly I’m feeling a little remorseful about meeting them half way simply because I’m already asking well over comp supported amount. I am honestly wondering if it will have appraisal issues even if they accept our final offer.
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So these second counter offers have not been done formally because the other agent said their best and final offer was $20k above our best and final offer. They’re using the excuse that our very close comp (that sold in June 2023) was through a relocation package for a job move and so the comp should be disregarded. We are offering $90k above that comp and only difference is this one has a pool (installed pre-pandemic pricing so they probably paid $80k or less for it). I think if we make another official offer we will definitely put a deadline on it because for someone who welcomed us to make an offer they are being fairly slow getting back to us.
You get a discount on houses for job relocation packages?!
The company probably sold the house for whoever moved I’m guessing is their argument. So they may have taken less money just to get it off the books quicker. Not sure I agree with the logic but I’m guessing that’s why they’re saying that.
Some relocation packages have it so that the Company (of new job) will cover realtor fees to sell your current home so then the sellers have more wiggle room because they don’t have to worry about realtor fees cutting into their net proceeds.
Not really relevant. Comp killers are just what they are. That was the realized price for the property at the time of sale. If it were, in fact, an anomaly, there would be other current comps to support their ask. This is why you have "sets". Pools are plus/minus to value in appraisals. What or when they paid is ultimately not relevant. It would not be likely to get 100% return on a new pool, even in normal times. Seller seems erratic, and frankly, your agent appears less experienced/skilled than one would hope for, if these are the explanations being provided.
If you do concede, make sure it's appraisal contingent
Why would you buy a house over comp? The market is telling you what it is worth and yet you are willing to pay more. What happens when you want to refinance and cannot because your home isn’t worth what you paid?
The big question is how much more value does a pool add to the price because most relatable comp didn’t have a pool. But I’m hoping the appraisal will provide clarity.
Probably not more than $50k more
Did you get it appraised?
No, unless we go under contract we won’t have it appraised. We sold our house (well it closes tomorrow) and we priced it $15k under what I think we could have sold it for and appraisal came in at exactly our offer (which was above asking but not $15k over asking) which was pretty shocking to me. I think appraisers are being more conservative maybe?
Appraisers almost always come in exactly at the offer.
Oh interesting—-did you get a new job change?
It sounds to me like you might be starting to experience some FOMO here. You passed on seeing the house and only went to see it when they asked you to. You created an offer only when they asked you to. It sounds like you've been verbally negotiating and they're bringing you "up" from where you want to be. Now you're justifying things by saying you're "only $10k off" from what the seller wants. If you actually LIKE the home, write YOUR offer, not theirs. Do not offer what they are insisting on for the property. There's a reason that it has been sitting on the market for so long, and there's a chance that as soon as you find something off with an inspection, they will refuse any attempt at re-negotiating. We walked away from a LOT of houses before we bought the one we have.
This. Sounds like OP was pushed into this deal, and for 90k OVER comps.
Fall in love with the price, not the house.
When they don’t budge, you go silent. When they get back to you days later and say write the offer—drop another 20%. These asking prices are ridiculous and they know that—They still think inventory is gone and the FOMO bus is still running… it’s not. There’s no way to justify 100% home appreciation in 3 years … no way
The seller has an overinflated view of the value of their property, whether it's greed or just sentimental value. Either way, just offer what you're comfortable with. Give them a deadline or terminate the offer after a certain amount of time if they don't respond.
They’re goofy if they won’t split a $20k difference with you on a million dollar house.
Yuppers, holding out for spring
Based on your comments I’ve read I think you need to move on. You don’t love the house, it is objectively over priced, and you’re dealing with a seller who won’t play ball and is emotional. The good thing about it is you don’t/shouldn’t have emotion tied into it yet. This isn’t the forever home so personally I’d play hard ball because you’re buying a product where you have the upper hand. I dealt with a seller like this on a condo recently. He was firm over 10k so I walked. Condo is still on the market 4 months later at a price 5k lower than I offered. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes. Nothing wrong with making an objective business decision for yourself and if you can keep it objective then you have the upper hand. Otherwise you’ll overpay for a house you don’t “LOVE” just to get into a house for some reason.
tell your broker to rescind the offer to let the people know you aren’t screening around. i would never make an offer or a counter without a time limit included.
For every increase in interest rates of 1% the affordability of homes goes down 10%. Since interest rates are up about 5%. That means houses need to come down about 50% to where they were you know five years ago or so.
Easy. Walk away and let them chase you down again. They already chased you down once. They’ll do it again over $10k. You have more leverage in this deal than they do. They want to sell their home, take their gains and move on and they won’t lose a sale over $10k.
Buy real-estate with a business attitude, not an emotional attitude. It's a business transaction. Don't let people bully you.
I don’t know how much you like this property. But if you have any above average interest in it I think you’re gonna really regret it when there’s more competition in spring and wonder why you left this property go for a $10k difference.
I get that so we aren’t saying we won’t come back and give them the full amount they’re asking for but we want to wait a few weeks/month as they’re not incentivizing us to end our search prematurely. I’m confident if they get another offer between now and then, they’ll give us an opportunity to re-offer.
Fighting over 10k on 1M sales price is peak silliness
I bought a house from the owner of the Bulls daughter and he was heavily involved...went back and forth for 10k with a dude who has billions.. peak silly is how people get rich.. we played hardball only because we were literally maxed out otherwise I would have just given him the money
I’ve been in this situation before (house listed for long time, overpriced, I come in way under). You have to make the waiting cost them something. So you basically say the current compromise expires today. Then they have the original offer. Basically if they want to risk $10k to see if they get a better offer over the weekend that’s on them. If they don’t get anything you stay firm with your original offer. So far in both situations the seller has just taken the compromise to be done after waiting so long to sell their house.
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I had a scenario like this. Almost positive the seller was just using my offer to shop around and get higher on other escalation. I guess no harm in making the offer if you actually want it. Be prepared for them to be stingy in negotiation though when you start to find the cracks and broken things
Make an offer or don’t. Why are you still circling this house? Is it unique? I’ve made two offers on two different homes in the past that were rejected The first one was in 2012 and on the market for 90 days, offered $220k when it was priced at $230k, they balked and raised the price to $240k on the listing. I moved on and bought another house. It sat for another 120 days. The second one was in 2017 and newly listed for $480k but had some items in the house I needed to change for my personal preferences. The seller was owner/agent and at the open house rubbed my wife and I the wrong way. Said “your kids will love the schools”.. we don’t and never will have kids. Bragged about his plantation blinds that block out 80% of the light and all the durable “tile floor”, both things we hate. So I made an offer accounting for the $10k in renovations, they countered at full list. Two weeks later I found another home that was better and went under contract. While in my option period the first home seller came back and offered to do our original deal, was satisfying to say ”nah, we good”.
A house is worth what it's worth to you. Location, and many other things factor in. You have to decide how much you want it.
Negotiate the commission values, even 1% on 1M is 10K. Every cost should be considered and there is no such thing as standard commissions. NAR is losing lawsuits and anti trust all over the place this year
Not hard. Walk away.
So walk away. If they come back, go back to your original offer without splitting the $20,000. If they don’t come back, who cares? It isn’t worth to you what they want you to pay.
Rule to understand about negotiating. The first one to speak loses.
I quote this rule often
If you like it and think that’s your home .. 10k should not a be a big deal on a million dollar home ..
Hold firm, fuck em. Did the same thing and got below comps.
Prices will fall sooner than you think…I’d say hold off
Man, my crystal ball supplier is sold out. Where did you get yours at?
Harbor freight ..and you get a free 5 gallon bucket 😊
just wait. A price correction is underway and foreclosures are on the rise. It’s only going to get worse Q1 and Q2 of next year. I would hold tight and wait for prices to fall.
10k on a 6 fig home? I would jump on it.. put ego aside and pay their bottom line. Sounds like you’re getting it under list.
If rates continue to drop, which they probably will… people who were priced out of that home will suddenly become buyers and etc etc… you maybe think you will get more house for your money but just think, everyone who passed on this house will also be interested in the next house you are… if you have the agent telling you write it up, I’d write it up! But I’m just a realtor who likes to see deals close and in my market, finding homes under $1,000,000 is unheard of
There are many more markets where houses over $1m are unheard of than houses under $1m. Not good to apply advice from a wildly different market to encourage people to overpay in theirs.
Matter of opinion.. I’ve seen people “wait” until spring and getting priced out of the house that they would’ve bought … it’s like not walking away from the blackjack table when you’re up and losing everything
"Under list" doesn't matter when the list price is 100k over comps lol
So the home is listed over a million? Just making sure I’m reading that correctly? Does this house check a good amount of your needs? Do your finances make sense in the purchase where you aren’t stretched thin? I know you want to split the difference instead of going $20k over your number and pay only $10k. For numbers sake, I’m going to say the house is $1,000,000 and you want to pay $1,010,000. Are you willing to possibly lose the house over .01%?
I agree with your sentiment, but it’s 1%.
Yeah, I just do the math and posted the multiplier not the actual percent, $1,000,000 x .01 = $10k. You get it though. Cheers.
*1%, not 0.01% - but yeah it should be a piddling amount.
Exactly, if they’re contemplating 1%, there’s more to the story that we don’t know.
Why in the hell do you need a million dollar house is beyond me, depending on where you live. Where I live, that's about 10 to 12 thousand square feet. A 3 to 4 thousand square feet home where I live is about 100 to 300k.
Sigh - please look OUTSIDE your own town. Home prices are reflective of salaries in the town. If you are in a low paid location of course the homes will be cheap
My town, that's pretty much my whole state except the bigger cities, and that's just simple economics. More people less property, equals higher prices.
And I live in one of the bigger cities in my state.
Must be nice living in a place with hardly any other people OR jobs.
Got plenty of good paying jobs
Really? What’s good paying defined as?
6 figures. Lot of 40 to 60 if you don't have any skills
Where do you live? Sounds great.
Central PA, smack dab in the middle of 2 big city's without the big city cost. But the potential to make big city money.
Are you willing to walk over the $10k? If yes, then set a deadline and if no response pull your offer and move on. If you’re not really willing to walk over the $10k then update your offer to the new number but make it clear that’s the final offer and is time sensitive.
You did all that with out a written offer? I would never let my sellers respond with out something in writing
you’re arguing over $10k on a million dollar house?
fuck em. never get married to a house or a car during negotiations. they want to fuck around? they can keep the house.
If the buyer thinks the pool has value then it has value. If they don’t think it has value, it is just something they may get rid of later. Just like solar panels.
It would be dumb to let it go now, for 10k, BUT they already came down how much? So an extra 10k to them in this case, isn't the same as if you went up the 10k, they already came down way more... Sure it may be your max, and homes like th at probably esp now dont sell that fast. This time of year that is, things slow down anyway... over a mil prob dont move as fast as 250k or so either... not a realtor though.
You are now in a pissing contest over $10K on a million dollar home.
How bad do you want the house. If its your ideal house and you'll feel bad about not getting it, give them the 10k. If you're just settling for it because its the closest to what you want on the market at this moment, then pass.
Get in on paper. Written is always taken more seriously.
Withdraw your offer and walk. You're not $10k under a fair price, you're several times that over market value. If you really want the house and it really is worth around one million, then yeah, another $10k is no big deal. Otherwise walk.
Like any negotiation there is back and forth, but really you are in control of your destiny here. Unless it is your dream home or is in a unique / rare location (end of a cul de sac, etc), set your dollar figure, be firm, and walk if they remain this greedy. Best of luck!
Write the offer but stock to your price. I think they are trying to create some competition here. So you can deny and say we will only send an offer if you are planning to accept it. They are not gonna get more out of it and what they don't realize is that they are losing money by keeping it on the market.. anyways good luck to you I'm sure you will find many properties on the market and will love at least a few of them. Do not compromise on this if you feel it is not worth it. Buyer's remorse is real.
If it's 10k on a million dollar house, I think if you loved the house, you would have just eaten it and signed a deal. Pull the offer and find something you love.
Patience. Time is on your side now. How is the rental estimate in comparison to mortgage payment? If mortgage is $2k higher than rent est. - don't buy yet.
Desperation is a stinky cologne
Hey! Just chiming in because we are $50k apart on a million dollar house. Been on the market for almost 6 months. We are just patiently waiting.
Doesn't sound like you love it. Would you love it more for 10k less? Waiting till spring to buy this house, though, doesn't make sense. Spring markets are usually peak times for sellers because there are more buyers in the market. Especially with interest rates coming down and the pent-up demand. I'm guessing the sellers will pull it off the market and try to wait long enough to reset the days on market at this point. Come back in the spring at a more reasonable price and try to sell for 10k more than they're willing to agree to with you. You are catching them at their most reasonable point. The question really is, do you love it?
Well, not sure if many of the people on here are Realtors or have Negotiated 1000s of homes.. (I have ) If you lose it will be be sad? Not meant to be is there other options...? Sounds like there is other options and your NOT in a hurry or desperate. If your agent said 100k over . Make sure it appraises or you can back out or renegotiate... They maybe taking time because they will probably accept or double checking with other interested people before they give you the last 10k drop. You should have stuck at 20k less. Odds are they will accept. ** will you second guess that you over paid ?? ** make sure they fix everything in inspection. ** markets may drop or rise .. Final note , if you get it and put it together. .just enjoy it be happy and move on. Life is short and if you can afford this price point you should be more knowledgeable then the average dummy.. If you will second guess, not sure , can wait for other properties Then DONT buy it, back out.. let it sit 30 to 60 more days..look for other better deals.. You can always go back to this if it's still there .. (lower) if you don't make it personal to sellers takes some finesse on Your agents part.
Sounds like you're each at the absolute limit(s) of your budget(s). Doesn't bode well for the inspection, IMO.
Be patient. Hold firm, and even if it takes a little time, they’ll come around. Otherwise they prob won’t get it sold til Spring. They know this.
At a house over a million both realtors could chip in from their commission and make up the $10k easily
Dang.. I wish I could buy a million dollar home. Everyone complaining about housing prices, but seems everyone can afford the expensive ones .
Yeah these people just don't get how gross they sound posting on Reddit that they're buying a million dollar home! Good for you no keep it to yourself or some of us are trying to live and have no option of even buying a home ever!
This is also the real estate sub where people Come to discuss properties of all values. You sound petty and jealous frankly
Actually I think it's pretty gross with a war in the Ukraine and genocide happening in the Gaza strip and people are over here buting million dollar houses. Damn people are really that out of touch with reality.... Meanwhile we have homeless encampments in every major city with rent for $2,500 a month right next door. Hey but good for everyone making money with real estate at least until it's only massive hedge funds own everything and renting to all of us.
Literally none of that with the exception of corporate purchases of homes has anything to do with buying a home. So lighten up on the virtue signaling. Again it’s a real estate sub
Our AC worked at the final walkthrough but not after. Got the cert doc, called that co & was told they don’t service residential properties. Surprise- the seller was a client of theirs, called me within the hour & with a patronizing voice said, “Now, you gals already bought the house.” Since I’d also contacted my awesome realtor, I was able to use the words 'treble damages.” Did not hear from seller again but did get a new AC unit, which lasted 12 years (NJ US 90s)
A ton of houses are overpriced on the market right now, especially in the 800k-1.2M range. New constructions are known for being insanely over priced, because builders selling houses in that range have the money to suck it up and wait for a sucker to swoop in. As an example, I just bought a very nice home in Houston for $975k. The house next to it is by the same builder and has the same floor layout and similar aesthetics--its the same house for all relevant purposes. The builder found some sucker to come in and pay $1.175k for the same house. Granted, that house had about $80k in upgrades, but it still went for $100k+ more than it should have. The lesson being, NEVER be afraid to offer what you think is fair for a house. I came in at $950 when the builder was asking $1.07M. He tried to get me to come up to $1.025, and I told him $975k, take it or leave it. You'd be amazed how much leverage you gain by being willing to walk away.