Should I counter their counter offer? - Page 2

mommytosa · 04-24-2007, 01:32 PM

You might have already done something, but I would take their offer. As dh would say, they met you halfway. That is pretty much his motto. I also agree with several others that if you lost the house over a few thousand dollars it sounds like you would be heartbroken.

Heck,here you could barely buy 10,acres for the price you are getting the 10 acres & a house!!! Congrats!

MandaRenee · 04-24-2007, 02:40 PM

Okay I haven't made a move as the realtor was just nice enough to give me the $ amt of their offer over the phone and I haven't received the paperwork yet. Dh too thinks we should just accept their offer and move on. However dh is out of town for a week, so we can't do too much anyway. I am going to call the realtor tomorrow and ask her about my idea of lowering a couple thousand or closing costs and see how she feels. I know the sellers are her clients but she knows us and is great. I know she'll give me an honest answer. And since we are still waiting for their contract to reach us we have a certain # of days to accept or decline their offer once we receive it.

They need to get out from under this house so I know they won't walk away and there is a good chance they will say no but I feel like I need to ask. They haven't really had too much interest in the house b/c of its remote location and such so I'm not too worried about someone walking in and taking it out from under us. But I don't want to wait too long which is why I will call her tomorrow. Or maybe late this afternoon. We really wanted to stay just under 90,000 so if we could do this it would be perfect.

Thanks for all the input ladies. Its really helped me get a perspective on this. Either way I'm sure we'll have a house soon and I'm super excited.

MandaRenee · 04-24-2007, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssusan2971

What I think MandaRenee and everyone else is talking about doing is having the seller pay for (or offset the difference, if you prefer) closing costs. Therefore if the closing costs are $5,000 then the seller would "really" be selling for $85,000. If they sell for $90,000, they give the buyer $5K at closing.

BTW that is exactly what I am talking about. Not that I'm worried about having to shell out the money at closing b/c I know it can go on the mortgage, but I'd rather save the $5k

desertmom · 04-24-2007, 03:28 PM

It sounds like you made your decision....but they already came down substantially. Is this money worth more to them than to you, especially if he got hurt? I wouldn't want to cause bad blood and pushing too much. It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask the realtor, but you may be better off asking for something nonmonetary than monetary, such as...finishing off of something (yes, it would cost them money in the long run, but sometimes they really go by the selling price when negotiating, rather than throwing in freebies), or an appliance or two, etc.

Aubrey's mom · 04-24-2007, 03:49 PM

You may have already had this done, but did you get the property appraised? That might give you an idea of how much you can bargain with them. If you getting the property for less than the appraised value they might not drop the price much more.

I must agree with everyone that it sounds like you're getting a good deal at their asking price! That isn't that much more than what we paid for our house and we don't even have an acre.

I hope things work out for you. Good luck!

MandaRenee · 04-24-2007, 04:06 PM

They haven't done an official appraisal on the house yet. I know the completed home will be worth much more than the house is now. But of course those projects being completed: drywall on the ceilings, light fixtures, flooring, cabinets, sinks, toilets are going to cost a substantial amount for us.

I don't know if the money is worth more to them than us. We are expecting our first child this fall and so we are going to need all of our money! It is a good deal at their asking price, maybe I'm just too cheap? Its a grand possibility. I will talk with dh tonight and see what he wants to do. Part of me thinks I could get a better deal and then part of me is just ready to sign and move on.

As far as asking for non monetary things I couldn't begin to think of what we could do. Because quite honestly the biggest draw of this house is the fact that I will be able to pick and choose the things I want to go in it. And I know they would not want to hire someone to finish anything b/c that was their original intent (to finish it) but now are selling it "as is".

cdrumm · 04-25-2007, 10:02 AM

I am a real estate Broker and I can tell you that clients usually end up exactly between the list price and opening offer, which is where you are now with the price. It's just human nature to split the difference, whether they know they're doing it or not. Please keep in mind that you and the seller have the option of accepting, countering or rejecting a couteroffer. So when someone says,"All they can say is no" that really means that the seller is rejecting your counteroffer and the deal is DEAD. By the time you resubmit another offer to them, another buyer or buyers may surface and now you're in a bidding war.

Take the deal as it is and run. Acreage and a new house (complete or not!) for under $100,000 is a steal.

stacia · 04-25-2007, 10:20 AM

Since you really want it I would not counter with a lower offer again. I would counter again but with their price plus a few thousand in closing costs to you at closing. The realtor can't tell you if they would accept a lower offer the only thing she can do is present the offer. Now your realtor can contact their realtor and try to work it out. But I would have your realtor write the contract for their price plus some closing costs. That I'm sure they would agree to!

Cookie2 · 04-25-2007, 10:22 AM

A couple more thoughts ...

1) When buying and selling a house I tend to try to deal with people who are nice.

For instance, on one house we had a buyer who made a nice dollar offer but added a bunch of conditions - some of which were silly. We didn't even look at their offer. I simply don't want to work with a nit-picky buyer - or seller. I truly believe buying and selling a house should be a win-win for both parties and I want everyone walking away from the deal feeling happy.

2) If you get picky about the closing costs - which you should have considered in your first offer - you may disqualify yourself.

A savvy real estate agent will pre-qualify potential buyers before presenting the offer to the seller. If your financial situation is so tight that a few bucks on the closing costs could make it so you don't even qualify for the mortgage, then you might be disqualifying yourself. In other words, the real estate agent may let the seller know that by accepting your offer they may, in effect, be agreeing to take their house off the market for an undetermined period of time for a sale that may never become reality. Many sellers won't want to do that.

3) How certain are you that the house will get a certificate of occupancy?

You are taking a huge risk on buying a house that isn't complete. Does the seller have a contractor that will stay with the project under your direction? If you change contractors in the middle of this build, you may end up with a housing nightmare. Your contractor will blame any defects on the previous contractor and the previous contractor will walk away from the project and any accountability to you. In other words, if you run into any problems, the fix could be very expensive - and entirely out of your pockets. Please be sure to check with the local building inspector to see if there are any concerns with this project from their point of view. All make sure all contractors - and subcontractors - are paid off by the seller BEFORE you accept title and close the deal.

Go into this with your eyes wide open. Remember the seller is saying they stopped work someone hurt their back. What if they stopped work because the local building inspector determined that the roof line was 12 inches too high? What if they stopped work because they found out the pour on the foundation was done incorrectly?

MandaRenee · 04-25-2007, 11:09 AM

Its not that we wouldn't qualify for the mortgage at all. I just wanted to stay under 90,000 but then again I know we are close to that. Which is really a good thing.

We are going to have the inspection completed on the house. The seller is the one who was hurt, and they are local residents that actually know dh's family. Although I realize that they could be scamming, I highly doubt it, just because of who they are. There is no contractor to stay with the project nor will we be hiring a new contractor. I know many people don't have the capabilities to do something like this themselves but we do. Besides, the only things not finished are really minimal, nothing structural.

We do know how expensive finishing this house will be which is why I am in this debate in the first place really. But we will have the property inspected, it is a contingency in our contract.

I think we will just accept this offer that they made, if for no other reason then to lessen the stress on me. I don't have the patience to deal with dragging this out much longer and in reality it is a pretty good deal.