bargaining a $230k house?

Question

if a house cost $230k how low could it be bargained down to if planning to buy it? is $160k too low?

Answer 1

It depends on several factors that you ahve not listed but need to consider when offering to prchase ANY house. I will assume the 230K is the ASKING price of the house so...
1. Supply and Demand, see what the historical volume of houses of that type are in your area and compare that to the current volume. Remember that real estate is a local market game and what is happening here in Las Vegas will NOT be what is happening where you are.
2.DOM, Days On Market to see how long this house has been on te market, has the price been reduced from original listing price and if so by how muc and when. Also see how long other houses are sitting on the market and what they are selling for on a $ per square foot basis.
3. Who is the seller? private person or bank repo? If bank then how many repos do they have? If private then why are they selling and are they under any pressure to close quickly? Are they moving or maybe even have already moved out of state? The more motivated the seller the better your chances of getting a reduced price OR better terms.
4. your financial situation; can you make a full cas offer? A pre-qualified offer? A offer with a bunch of restrictions like your house selling before you can close on thiers? The cleaner your offer the better the seller will like it and the more likely they will accept with a reduced purchase price.
5. What is the population or job growth numbers in your area? What is the local real estate market doing overall and what are the long term outlooks for it? What is the crime rate ? What are the schools like? Is this a high demand house for that area or a special property that has to have a special buyer for it?
Starting to get the idea that there is no simple, easy answer? Buying property is a complicated operation that can't be answered completely in 30 seconds.
Having said that here is the numbers on my latest deal. House sold in Feb. 06 for 300K; bank repoed for 255K, and I paid cash of 170K this month. So I paid 56% of last purchase price; 67% of repoed bank price, $112 per sqft. in a market that topped out at $200 a foot.
Lowball offers are not low if they are the only offers presented. Remember that you make your profit when you buy and not when you sell so make an offer that makes YOU a profit and see what happens.

Answer 2

Look at the initial and final selling prices of similar houses in the area that were recently sold. If the similar houses are in the $160k range then it could be the seller is being stubborn or not realistic. However, if the house price is within market range do not expect the seller to drop the price much below that which other similar houses have sold for unless there is a circumstance like foreclosure or divorce that you can take advantage of.

Answer 3

You are not providing sufficient data to gain a qualified response. However, assuming that $230K is reasonably within market values for the property, you're out of your mind offering $160K. I'd venture that you've read FAR too many web articles about foreclosures and the 'buyer's market' if you think you can get THAT sort of price reduction.

Answer 4

$70k seems like a big stepdown. I would look at simular homes in the neighborhood. If you want to be taken seriously by the seller. I would probably not make such a low offer. The seller may not even respond.

Answer 5

As low as the sellers will go. Ask the listing agent and your buyer's agent to each prepare a comparative market analysis.

Answer 6

Depends on the location, condition of the house, and how long it has been on the market. A drop of 70k thought is really large, I would aim more for 200k.

Answer 7

You never know until you make an offer.

Answer 8

$23,000 would be more like it..most homes today are junk and a real rip off....

Answer 9

need more info than that DUH sq footage loc