All Forum Posts by: Kelsey Cole

Quote from @Scott Mac:

Quote from @Kelsey Cole:

I am hoping for some advice from a seasoned group of people. I am currently looking at acquiring my first property. This is an off market duplex that I found while walking around an area I was interested in. I was able to find out that it was listed a year ago and the listing expired after 6 months. The owner absolutely wants to sell. Here is where I’m struggling. Obviously I want a good deal on the property but my realtor is advising me not to “lowball” the owner. I totally understand what she’s saying but I am not 100% comfortable at the price point she is recommending. What should I do? I don’t want to offend the owner but I want to be comfortable with numbers. Any advice is extremely appreciated!

Hi Kelsey,

I'm going to try to help you here by coming at this from a little different angle.

(first let me say--I don't know the answer to this)

((("Offend"))) the owner with a low offer.

Offend (???)

I can understand not wanting to be offensive, most people do not.

But i am wondering what kind of person would get (("Offended")) simply by seeing an offer--is this common (???)

Now granted some people get offended easily, over every little slight...in those cases there is not much you can do.

But I'm wondering if "Offended" is the correct thought about this.

Maybe others can weigh in.

I'm not a Realtor, never have been one, maybe owners do become "Emotionally Offended" when someone offers too low of price for what they want to think it's worth(???)

Any thoughts on this (???)

Thank you for weighing in. I actually used that term because it is the exact term my agent used. I too was a bit baffled by this thinking any offer should open the door for communication. She assured me that a "low-ball" offer would offend the seller and it would be "hard to come back from". This theory honestly scared me a bit hence me coming here with the initial question. 

@Aaron Francl

Thank you so much for your advice. Just a small update this morning. Selling agent has spoken to owner. He expressed he needs to sell and is happy to have conversation with me. He also expressed that it is indeed two parcels of land that mistakenly got lumped into one loan. He has offered to allow conversations moving forward to address only the front parcel (the parcel with the duplex on it) and use funds from my purchase of that to pay off the entire loan and hold the back parcel until I was ready to purchase it. I am currently waiting on his asking price for the front parcel. Could be a great thing so fingers crossed! 

Quote from @Bill B.:

If the realtor hasn’t made an offer on this house for you before, I agree. You are tacking on $12-$15k in commissions that the seller isn’t going to want to pay. So they might very well come out of your pocket. They certainly will in terms of the least the seller will accept. 

You offer $250k with your realtor. I offer $240k with one. The seller takes my offer and put more cash in their pocket. 

Ps. You are literally saying “it’s been off the market for 6 months, the seller definitely wants to sell…” I would say the opposite, they definitely don’t need to sell. 

Pps. You are saying you don’t know why it didn’t sell for $275k 1 year ago, but today you think it’s worth $230k? Your market today is down more than 15% from last year? Are you sure you want to buy in that market? Is your inventory and days on market down A LOT in the last month or two like many other markets? If not, why not?

TLDR: Admit to yourself YOU are paying $12-$15k to use this realtor (a realtor you think knows the market less than you.)  on an off market deal. Figure out what the property is really worth (you’ve asked one “expert” and ignoring them) and if the seller really wants to sell, maybe they rented it out? Research your market, is it still sinking or are you underpricing the property? 
  

Good luck. 

 There is a lot that’s going into this but yes I believe the house is far over priced. There is also an issue where now they are claiming there is two lots involved. The house is from 1950 and has never been updated in an area where nice 1b 1b get 1150 a month for rent. The seller does want to sell but lives out of state and has trusted his agent to do her job. He was not in a hurry to sell but his mother has been managing the property and he still owes on his loan and hasn’t had renters in 9 months. I could go on and on but I do believe he is now wanting to sell. I know the house isn’t worth 275k but believe it’s at most worth 240k but it does need about 20k worth of work to be rentable. You can price a home at whatever you want but that means nothing at the end of the day if it doesn’t sell. They did have multiple contractors interested when it was listed but I believe the price and confusion of the parcels caused them to walk away. 

Quote from @Crystal K Coleman:

@Doug Smith Why are you using an agent if it’s off market? Is she the one negotiating on your behalf?

I am not sure if you meant to ask me this but seems reasonable to believe you were. I was working with an agent to help me since this is my first property. She is also a friend. We were viewing houses and had stopped to go get tacos. We walked a couple feet from the taco place and I see this abandoned duplex and I immediately know that I need to know more. Well she ends up finding out the house was listed last march but then expired. After my meeting with the selling agent today I think I know why the house didn’t sell last year. Very confusing interaction and I left with more questions than I had when I arrived.

Thank you all for your input! I think that I will talk to my agent and let her know I would like to start at 230k it feels better to me. Numbers do still make sense at 240k but that starts to change after 245k. I appreciate all the responses!

I think that is where I am struggling. There is no comps in the area. Property was listed a year ago (when rates were about half what they are now) at 275,000 but for whatever reason did not sell and eventually the listing expired. My realtor is adamant about going in offering 250,000 but I am much more comfortable at low end 230,000 absolute high end 240,000. I am so new to this and I don't want an opportunity to slip away over 10k but I need these numbers to make sense. 

I am hoping for some advice from a seasoned group of people. I am currently looking at acquiring my first property. This is an off market duplex that I found while walking around an area I was interested in. I was able to find out that it was listed a year ago and the listing expired after 6 months. The owner absolutely wants to sell. Here is where I’m struggling. Obviously I want a good deal on the property but my realtor is advising me not to “lowball” the owner. I totally understand what she’s saying but I am not 100% comfortable at the price point she is recommending. What should I do? I don’t want to offend the owner but I want to be comfortable with numbers. Any advice is extremely appreciated!