Reasonable offer

[Nigel123]

26th June 2007 13:52

Can anyone tell me what they would consider being a reasonable offer when looking at properties?
Is 10% off the asking price an insult?

We have seen a couple of properties that are above our price range but they have both been reduced as neither had sold, one has been on since April so i said we really liked it but would like to put in a cheeky offer of $465k (it was up for 499k) The realtor seemed to think this was a no no and may be considered an insult!!!!!
Is this typical of the Canadian house buying market?

[Bleech]

26th June 2007 14:52


It's got to be worth a go mate. We got our both our places at over 10% off asking price. Just stick to your guns. What's the worst that could happen?

[Nigel123]

26th June 2007 15:46

Well my point exactly but the realtor seemed to think we may insult them and they wouldn't counter offer, well if vthat's the case so be it or does that mean i will be blacklisted from every house sale in the Okanagan!!!!!

Well i have just found out who owns the property, guess what it is a realtor and his wife.

Going to see another one now as i cannot be bothered to get frustrated over it.

[Nigel123]

26th June 2007 16:45

Hi Nigel
We made a firm and final offer of around 7% off the asking price, and made it clear that we weren't about to shift, and that we wanted to move in quickly. We'd decided we were prepared to walk away if they didn't go for it as we didn't want to blow our budget.

We knew they weren't in a rush to sell, but we thought that this made it a reasonable and fair offer.

Ahead of making the offer we got the realtor to do a review of similar homes which had sold in the previous couple of months. We compared price per square foot etc, number of rooms, lot size etc to see if we were being outrageous, or sensible. Plus we had a good look to see if there was work to be done. On one home, our second choice, we reckoned that we'd need to spend circa $70k to put in municipal sewer, double garage (it had a single garage) etc.

To our surprise (!) the seller of our preferred property accepted the offer. Part of me says we should've offered less(!), but we went into it thinking it was a fair price, and there was nothing else we'd seen that came close to what we were looking for. So we're happy.

Think like the UK it comes down to how motivated the seller is, how long it's been on the market etc. The usual stuff.

[Betalil]

26th June 2007 17:33


When make a legitimate offer on a property you should consider a great many variables.

#1 - what's it worth to you. Would you be happy paying the price you have offered or would you be willing to pay more?
#2 - what have similar properties SOLD for in the immediate neighbourhood (don't consider asking price for comparisons).
#3 - How long the property has been on the market ie: more than 3 months on a standard family home in a standard area seems to be too long - so why is that? was the price to high to begin with, are there maintenance issues that haven't been dealt with, is the neighbourhood in need of repair? etc).
#4 - has the property been "Professionally Appraised"? A Realtor's "appraisal" can be skewed particularly when that Realtor wants the listing (priced high) or guarantees a quick sale (priced low). When a Professional Appraiser gives a value for a property he/she is saying that it should sell within 30-90 days + or - 5% of that value they do not sell/list properties for sale.

So, when making an offer on a property include in your conditions a "Professional Appraisal" by a dedicated appraisal company, this is something that can protect you from paying more than necessary for the property. Another condition could be subject to professional property inspection which could discover hidden issues. After these two things are done then you can adjust your offer based upon this new and valuable information.

At the price of $499k (depending on the neighbourhood) you should be able to move in and use the house the way it is, maintenance should be tip top. Updating would be your responsibility ie:changing anything that doesn't suit your taste. Certain things should probably come off the asking price ie: anything that should have been taken care of during normal maintenance.

This is just my opinion

[Nigel123]

26th June 2007 19:33


Well i don't know what to think now.

The place we liked was originally $539,900, then it was reduced to $519,900 and now it's $499,777 (what's with all the sevens?) So they have already dropped quite a bit and i beleive the reason is there is a main road running behind. The house is on a hill and away from the road but traffic noise is still evident. The views were brilliant but it is possible that the treed hillside across the road will become single family homes in the future.

Maybe it is not to be as we have just seen another which we really like, and it is quiet, has a large yard and plenty of parking. So watch this space!!

[Betalil]

26th June 2007 21:52

I think that they hoped that getting the price under the 500k and having an odd number would generate some interest.

It seems that what you said above that the property has some issues, and having that spectacular view does not make up for them.

Good luck, sounds like you may have found another one that will keep you happy.

[mkmurrays]

27th June 2007 06:31

Yep, fingers crossed you get the dream house today. We looked at the other one you mentioned, and it did have some 'issues' - particularly if the development behind the house got off the ground.

[Nigel123]

27th June 2007 15:35


Well we've made an offer on the latest one and it has been counter offered but we have said too high so given a final non negotiable price and we'll wait and see.

If not there is always another one we like waiting in the wings

[Colsgirl]

19th July 2007 20:35

We're British, cheeky and proud of it. The house we bought had been on the market for 7 days and we offered $45k under the price it was listed for. It paid off because they only asked us to go $10k higher.

You have to treat it as a deal, know what you want to pay and be prepared to walk away. Fall in love with the house and they've got you!!! We also said that if we got into the positon of them lookig at multiple offers, we would also walk away.