Need advice on making a counteroffer

[Naomi Gunter]

We have placed an offer on a bank owned property that was listed at $172,900. We offered $155k and asked that they pay closing costs. It generated a counteroffer of $172k with them paying closing costs.

Any advice on how to proceed? We had agreed that we didn't want to pay more than $165k, but with them coming down only $900 plus closing costs, we're wondering if that will be doable.

It's our first house. We can live without it, but we haven't found any other houses (out of 25 houses viewed or so) with the right qualities and price. This house is pushing it since it needs a new kitchen.

Also, the realtor can't find an appraised value for the house. I'm not sure how the bank knew how to price it if it has not been appraised. Zillow estimates it at around $191,795 - $230,585 but I know that can be a rough estimate.

Thanks!

[Matt Eilers]

How long has this been on the market?
Doesn't seem like they are moving much (with their counter). If it hasn't been on the market long, they may not be overly motivated to drop yet.

Counter their counter with another price ($160K or whatever you and your agent think), put in a list of items that you saw that needed to be fixed and an estimate of what those costs would be.
If you didn't, a pre-approval letter might be helpful to show you are serious and good to go if the contract is excepted.
Perhaps moving up the closing date (without knowing what you put), perhaps a motivating factor for the bank is just clearing this off their inventory list.

Best of luck.