What is a good percentage to ask off the listing price of any home on average?

Answer 1

buyers market everyone got greedy, 25% and wait for counter

Answer 2

I would say there is no standard percentage off. Your offer can vary greatly depending on the situation. If you are looking to pick up a bargain, or the price seems to be inflated, then offer a price perhaps 10% or more off the asking price. If you are interested in a specific property, and the asking price seems to hold with an appraised value, then offer maybe 3-5% less than the starting price, unless of course the owner indicates they have had no other offers and a high motivation to sell. Then and only, then you should try to take them for all they're worth. You could even find in some situations that it is beneficial and not inappropriate to offer over the asking price for a desirable property with many earnest offers, or for a property you just can't live without.

Answer 3

In today's market, if your market is like the average, 5-10% percent off new listings plus 2% for each month it has been on the market, + 2% each month it goes beyond the average time on market.

Answer 4

This article gives you tips on negotiation:
http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/060909/19463.html

Articles about current market:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/25/news/economy/homesales2/index.htm?postversion=2006092513

How to value a property during market downturn?

Housing market continues to slump. Now we can calculate true value of a property easily. As price decline, we don't need to guess and factor in the potential price appreciation while calculating home value. Without the guesswork, figures are more accurate.

Let's use following example:

Today, a typical 15 years old, two bedrooms condo/townhouse is priced around $500,000 and $550,000 in Sunnyvale, California. Rent for similar condo/townhouse is $2000/month.

If you are a home owner, $2,000/month in rent means $20,000 a year in profit ($24,000 per year in rent, minus $4,000 maintenance costs). A $20,000 income is equilevant of owning $400,000 bonds or CDs, because current yield of 30 Years U.S. treasuries are 5% (5% of $400,000 is $20,000). Bank CDs have similiar yields.

In our example, the two bedrooms condo/townhouse is 20% to 25% overpriced. They should be priced at $400,000.

It is interesting to note that if we redo the calculation from buyer's perspective instead of seller's perspective, the figures are even more shocking.

Mortgage payment consists of two parts: mortgage interests and mortgage principal. The interests portion is similar to rent. If you pay interest, it disappears and doesn't add equity to the property. To fully simulate characteristics of renting, we assume buyer will apply for a zero down, interest-only loan.

It turns out that rent of $2000/month is equivelant to mortgage payment of a $340,000 loan at 7.0% APR. And comparing $340,000 loan to $500,000 or $550,000 price tag, from buyer's view, the two bedrooms condo/townhouse is 30% to 35% overpriced.

One may ask, why is there a discrepancy between two perspectives of the buyer and owner?

The discrepancy is a result of 2% differences in interest rate that buyer borrow comparing to yields of bonds and CDs that owners would get. We understand that buyer would always pay more. That is the premium of buying to own. However, looking from home owner's perspective, current housing market is probably 20% to 25% overpriced. We recommand investors to wait for a better entry point.

Answer 5

there really isn't an "average"...
depends on how well the property is priced. the best thing to do is to weigh your motivation against the seller's motivation. it also helps if you have a realtor who can help you determine these things.

Answer 6

there are real estate guidelines that you have to abide by, it depends on the state that you live in.