Lower initial offers on listings

It seems that recently all initial offers are considerably below listing price. Maybe it is because buyers assume everyone is desperately selling, or because competition is higher for certain price levels. It does present challenges when presenting these lower initial offers to your seller. Many sellers become almost offended by these offers at 15- 20% below list. If the selling agent has done their homework the pricing should be relatively close. It does seem that when you begin negotiating from these lower starting points you will inevitably end up with a lower sales price. The best a listing agent can do is get lots of comps from the area, which is becoming more difficult with less sales to utilize in marketing analysis. Agents should also inform sellers of possible potentially low offers so they don't think they are being manipulated. If possible gather your data from a specific price range and look further back in sales history to find more comps if your in a softer market. The more information that is collected the more accurate the market analysis will be, and the more accurate the listing price as well.