Putting in my first offer

[Jared Smith]

Hi everyone, I have finally found a house that I want to put an offer on. Here are the basic details. The ARV of the house is between 395,000 and 410,000 The estimated cost to repair is 100,000-135,000(I know that is a big gap, but it accounts for some repairs we need to open up walls to confirm) The current listing price is 359,000 The price has dropped from 420,000 The house has been on the market for almost 3months Is it absurd to offer 200k for the house Also is there a way to make an informal offer to see what the Owner thinks of the offer or so you have to just make a formal offer? Any additional advice is much appreciated Thanks for the help in advanced

[Owen Dashner]

Congrats on the first offer! At $200K, you are likely going to get an outright rejection, at best a counter close to asking price. Is it an REO, or owned by a person? Nothing wrong with floating an informal offer, the worst you are going to get is a flat "no". Even if you make a formal offer, just include a contingency that will give you an out.