Let’s say you’ve listed your house with another agent and you haven’t received an offer for more than three months, and suddenly, you receive what we call a lowball offer. How do you respond?
Hopefully this never happens to you, but if it does, the first thing to do is talk it over with your agent. Take a step back and analyze the whole situation - what’s been selling in my neighborhood? What’s my competition? What’s active in my community? What’s been selling in my price range in my city? Have any buyers that have seen my property made offers on others that sold recently? What’s the average days on market? What’s the market like?
We follow through with our plans on a daily basis.
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Next, really put yourself in the buyer’s shoes to see what they’re trying to accomplish. Obviously the buyer and their agent are going to try to get your property at the best price. Many times a lowball offer is a strategy to try and get you to meet them in the middle. Say you’re listed at $500,000 and they make an offer of $450,000. Their strategy is to meet you in the middle, or somewhere close to $475,000. If it makes sense to you financially, try to come very close, slightly above that middle ground, so they can counter back at $475,000.
Remember to analyze the situation to determine what’s best. Think about the time your home has been on the market and ask yourself if it makes more sense to continue to market the home in hopes of receiving a higher offer.
If you have any questions about offers, or about real estate in general, please feel free to send me an email or give me a call. I’d love to work with you!
