How would you respond to a really low offer?
Many sellers are offended—so offended that they refuse to respond. After all, it’s an insult!
That’s one way to look at it. Another way is that someone just showed interest in buying your house. Isn’t that why you put it on the market?
Perhaps the person who made the offer is willing to come closer to your asking price. Your REALTOR® can help you find out.
One thing is for sure: If you don’t respond at all, you’ll never know how serious the other party is about buying your house. And you’ll never know if you killed a potential deal.
This article might be an oversimplification of the situation. It is not necessarily insulting, but says the buyer doesn’t see the value. it is worse when the buyer calls the “baby ugly” and lowballs the offer. If the seller has no options or time to wait the offer might be worth pursuing. Both sides have access to the same market information and interpret it to suit their needs. Is the buyer looking for a home or a deal? A buyer should always put forth their best offer as their initial offer because if they don’t another buyer might. If the… Read more »
After 50 yrs in real estate I tell my sellers no offer is an insult! When i have a low offer from another agent to present and I do tell the seller this is a good sign of interest in their property.
I have been successful in making deals when I received offers from buyers or tenants – residential and commercial deals – that were low coming in. As I explained to my clients – you have NOTHING to lose by countering – it CAN be counter at full price – or any other price less than list price. If it kills the deal – so be it – there was not one there to begin with. If it causes a 2nd round for discussion and negotiation – then the game is afoot quoting Sherlock Holmes. And sometimes it leads to a… Read more »