House Price Seems High in Dayton Minnesota

[John Woodington]

The wife and I are looking at this property tonight, not as a rental, but as a potential new primary residence for us and our children:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/12161-E-French-...

It's not perfect for our family style, but it does have a nice amount of space.  My issue with it is the price, which is $595K.  This house is under 2000 sq. ft. and was built in the 1920s.  It is priced at $324/sq ft, which is almost double what many of the newer homes in the area are going for.  It is listed as a lakefront property, but the lake it is on is only 4 feet deep, and doesn't hold any fish, nor could you really boat on it (that doesn't really count as a lake in MN if you ask me).

My feeling is that this place is really worth about $325K (tax assessed value for this year is $304K).

Am I a jerk for wanting to offer $270K less than their asking price (pending our walkthrough tonight goes well and we like the property)?  Any tips on negotiating with a seller who has their home listed far too high?  I'm tempted to offer $325K, and when they turn it down, just tell them my offer stands and call me if you can't sell it.

Any insight would be helpful.

[Sean Wait]

Are you taking into account the 9 acres of land and the outbuildings. As you know the $324 is based on the price divided by the square feet of the house and doesn't include any of the other things like the acreage and the outbuildings. If you don't at least take this into account in your discussion and factor those in the seller will most likely totally blow off your offer as it would not seem well thought out and defensible.

The other thing I would check on the tax assessed value is it one PID, sometimes they will split it into 2 PIDS, 1 house and 1 other land.

Just thoughts.