Agent did not agree with my first potential offer on house

[Jason Scharf]

I recently looked at a two family. 3 bed 1 bath downstairs apartment and 1 bed 1 bath upstairs apartment. The asking price is $134,900. It's been on the market for one week as of today. The rent is said to be 1100 and 700 respectively not including utilities. Total taxes are $3,955. I plan to house-hack my first deal. House was recently updated quite a bit. It will most likely need two new furnaces in the short term. Necessary repairs seemed to be minimal but I'm not a home inspector nor an expert on assessing less than obvious repairs. Property is in a nice suburb of Syracuse, NY on dead end street. Currently vacant and previously rented downstairs to sellers step-child and upstairs to one single individual. The only comp to be had in the area recently sold for $124,500. It's a bit confusing because the list price was said to be 122k but sold for 2.5k higher? I have seen this with a few comps that were sent to me by my agent and I'm not entirely sure I understand why.

To make a long story short, I ran the numbers and decided that I may want to start off by offering 90K to just let the seller sit on it. When I mentioned it to my agent, she stated that it would be assured to alienate the seller and would most likely not receive a counter offer as it's over 44K lower than asking and has only been on the market for a week. I have read many tips stating that if you're not embarrassed by your offer, than it isn't a good offer. I am not trying to purposely low-ball an offer, I just ran the numbers using an FHA loan and maximum potential expenses and it seemed that this was the number necessary to ensure at least $100 of cash flow per unit. Not sure how to react to my agents reaction, but wanted some input on making offers in general. Thank you in advance!

[Mike Cumbie]

Hi @Jason Scharf,

If I am representing the buyer and they put an offer that is 44K less on a 135K property that has only been on the market for a week, it is the last offer I would put in for them. At that point you will have posts on here about how "my agent isn't responsive" and "doesn't return my calls" or "I don't think he is investor friendly". Possibly some "My agent has no idea how to do their job" and "Just doesn't understand investing". The truth is that running around doing that is a waste of my time and I have other clients that are interested in my advice and knowledge and will be using it for their benefit. 

There are times when I know about something coming up or off market and I bring them to my clients. Let them know what asking is and what i think they can get it for. If they ignore my recommendations and go a ton less, then they don't need me, they have the market figured out and the value in our area, they can just find a new agent to write their offers for them. If I am working for the buyer they get my 100% honest feedback and opinions (it's why they have me as an agent). If we are that far off that they need to severely undercut my thoughts, I am just not the right agent for them.

Just my 2 cents and best of luck with your business!