I spent 6 months showing Bob houses in Fort Wayne. He knew exactly what he wanted and we were excited to finally find it! The home was a beautifully restored farm house and it was PERFECT!!!
After running a comparative market analysis on the home I told Bob that even at full price ($199,900) it was a good deal. I recommended offering $189,900 and asking for closing costs. You want to know what Bob told me? Sure you do...
My wife's cousin's dog's previous owner was a REALTOR back in the 1990's, she said that it is a buyer's market and that I should throw out a low ball offer and see what happens. I think we should offer $99,900 and see what they say.
I laughed because I thought he was joking. Then I laughed when I realized he was serious. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince him that making an offer that low is ridiculous, a waste of time, insulting to the sellers, and it may jeopardize them getting the house. He didn't care. He was dead set on low balling them to see what they may say. I did convince him to come up some, although the offer we made at $149,900 was still ridiculous in my opinion.
The listing agent barked at me and then told me that his sellers were insulted and enraged by this offer (exactly what I told Bob to begin with). They countered at $202,900, $3,000 over list price. It didn't surprise me one bit.
After negotiating back and forth for well over a week (during that time Bob wasn't listening to me at all) we finally came to an agreement at $197,000. At this point the sellers were still very upset about the process as was the listing agent.
The inspection was the following week. The report showed about 20 minor things that needed repaired. Bob demanded that we ask the sellers to fix all of them. The sellers (still steaming about the original offer and negotiation process) refused to fix anything. Do you think they may have been more open to it if my buyer hadn't insulted them to begin with? In my opinion, probably.
We closed in separate rooms (not a common practice in Fort Wayne) because the sellers and my buyer didn't want to see each other. It probably would have been UGLY.
If you are looking for an REO or foreclosure in Fort Wayne and want to make a low ball offer that's one thing. To do it on a home that is priced well and owned by an invidual... not so good. It rarely works out well.
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