Negotiating to $115k below asking - how do they do it?

[Aliz Raksi]

Hello! Every once in a while I come across a listing like this one, where the buyers had negotiated the price of a property down by as much as 30%. In this case, a property listed for $389k sold within a month for $115k below asking. I wish I could take the buyers out for lunch and ask them how they did this! Has anyone here ever done similar negotiations? What's your strategy? Do you put a higher offer just to get under contract, knowing that you will lower your price during the inspection period as problems surface? But what could possibly come up to justify such a price reduction? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

And my takeaway: always put offers! You never know what you can get the property for unless you try.