What's the lowest you've ever offered, and had accepted, from a listed price?

Question

I'm merely curious how far below asking price people have managed to snag properties for? I often see properties that I think have great potential and could stand to take an offer significantly below what they're asking, but I suppose I'm never really sure how much lower you can go. I realize it varies from property to property, but I'm just curious what you folks have managed to make happen.

Andy M. · Answer

I had a seller contact me directly from a mailer that I sent him. He had a property listed on the MLS for $125,900 and it had been listed for awhile. The house was really beat up. I really wasn't that interested so I just offered the seller where it was worth it to me.... $31,800. He didn't take my offer at first but he called me back a week later and I met with him and signed it up. His agent found out about it after his client had signed up the offer and he tried to talk him out of it, but it was what the seller wanted to do. For the record, the listing agent did get a commission on the sale. :)

That was definitely the craziest drop i've ever seen.

David Krulac · Answer

I bought a free and clear property for $1

Also got property given to me for $0

Bought a 9 room brick house for $50

Bought a $360,000 house for $30,000

Bought a $50,000 house for $3,000

Bought a $42,000 mobile & land for $2,000

Bought a $53,000 house for $3,500

Got a mobile for $0

Bought a $185,000 cabin for $6,400

.....

Amanda Hoening · Answer

I have heard the saying that if you're not a little embarrassed by your offer, your offering too much.

Ned Carey · Answer

Some low priced dealsI have gotten

Best short sale I got was $1200 on a short sale for a $75 K mortgage

Also did a $5K short sale on a $66K mortgage

That was on a house that started at $250K and we would up paying the seller $20K net to her.

Lowest price I paid was $50 for a house. Took it to action and made about $3K Would have made more but my contract ran out so I had to double close.

Brian Burke · Answer

I can't recall the best ones, but I've had two in the last few months that were pretty good. One was priced around $460K, and I offered and closed at $300K.  A second one was listed at $1,750,000 and I offered and closed at $1,200,000.  Those are discounts of 35% and 31% which is pretty good. What really matters, however, is the spread between your accepted price and the VALUE, not the list price.

I used to think that if my offer wasn't within 20% of list it wasn't worth writing. I still feel that way to some degree, but I leave the door open to submit offers below that threshold if I have some reason to believe that it stands a chance at acceptance.

Shelly Swanzy · Answer

We were watching a property on MLS it went from $29900 to 19900 I called the realtor to find out more -- it was an REO.  We looked at it offered $7500 and three days later they accepted our offer (of course it had been on the mls over 6 months and was in a small town at least 30 minutes drive to next large town).  I always look at how long something has been listed

Walt Payne · Answer

@Jeremy Hale

My advice is to not be concerned with making an offer that is too low. What exactly is going to happen if it is too low? Jail sentence? Huge fine? Your name gets added to the lowball  list and nobody ever allows you to submit another offer? Of course not.

Asking price is just that. It does not have to have any realistic basis, or be anything more than someone's dream. What you offer has the same rules. It does not have to have any basis on actual value. There is always a slim chance that a very low offer will be accepted if it is made at exactly the right time, under the right circumstances.

My philosophy is that when I am truly looking to buy, I make offers based upon what works for me, regardless of asking price. But when I am between deals, and see a property that is still available from 6 months ago that I might be interested in at a steal, I might make a lowball offer. Worst case the seller ignores me. Best case it is one of those situations where they have reached a point of frustration and desperation and accept. I have gotten a few like that, had a few laugh, and had a bunch ignored. But it has been worth doing.

What's the lowest you've ever offered, and had accepted, from a listed price?

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