Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

[dbeth]

First, a little backstory.

My wife and I are teachers at the high school in the neighboring town. Last school year, the building trades program at our HS agreed to build us a new house (they build one every year, and we wanted to move back, so it was a win-win for both of us). So, in late-August 2010, we put our house on the market in south-central Wisconsin for $159,900. Our "new" house has run into some major bank issues on the school end, and it has been on hold since mid-April. Hopefully something starts on it in January...hopefully.

Anyway, over the past 15 months, we lowered the price to $154,900, and now $149,900. Then, last Friday, we got our first offer...of $125,000 cash.

We currently owe around $121,000 left on the mortgage (we bought it for $150,000 in 2004), and would need to sell for around $130,000 to break even after closing costs and fees.

This is our first sale, and both of our parents haven't sold a house in recent memory, so I'm looking for some countering advice. Since there's about a $25,000 difference between what we're asking and what they're offering, what would be a good counter-offer? Thanks in advance.

[joshuar9476]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

Just my $.02 ... but just breaking even in this market must be seen as a WIN! I'd come back with $125,000 and the buyer pays all costs. That would leave you with a bit in the bank and a hassle off your shoulders. Look how long it's been on the market, it might be a while before another offer comes along.

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

First, a little backstory.

My wife and I are teachers at the high school in the neighboring town. Last school year, the building trades program at our HS agreed to build us a new house (they build one every year, and we wanted to move back, so it was a win-win for both of us). So, in late-August 2010, we put our house on the market in south-central Wisconsin for $159,900. Our "new" house has run into some major bank issues on the school end, and it has been on hold since mid-April. Hopefully something starts on it in January...hopefully.

Anyway, over the past 15 months, we lowered the price to $154,900, and now $149,900. Then, last Friday, we got our first offer...of $125,000 cash.

We currently owe around $121,000 left on the mortgage (we bought it for $150,000 in 2004), and would need to sell for around $130,000 to break even after closing costs and fees.

This is our first sale, and both of our parents haven't sold a house in recent memory, so I'm looking for some countering advice. Since there's about a $25,000 difference between what we're asking and what they're offering, what would be a good counter-offer? Thanks in advance.

I don't understand the full story...but do you really need to get rid of your house? You can always rent it out and have it pay for itself.

I wouldn't take the $125K offer. You're in control as the seller and if you really don't need to sell it, don't. Don't take an offer that you're not comfortable with.

Best of luck.

[st67]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

This is why you get a realtor. For 4-6% of the sale, they know exactly what to do and how to get you the best deal.

[Dirty Turtles]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

Just my $.02 ... but just breaking even in this market must be seen as a WIN! I'd come back with $125,000 and the buyer pays all costs. That would leave you with a bit in the bank and a hassle off your shoulders. Look how long it's been on the market, it might be a while before another offer comes along.

That was my thought as well. I'd counter with maybe a 10,000$ discount and see what they come back with. If I could get out of it even I would consider it a win.

If renting is at all an option, it's a pretty decent route as well. Our neighbors rent their house (1 bedroom, 1 bath with basically no yard) for 500$ a month. I pay 336$ a month mortgage/taxes/insurance for a 3 bedroom, 1 bath with a yard and a detached garage. I can easily ask 600$ a month and get it in this area. Houses are cheap to buy, but so many people can't afford to buy so they just rent and get a ton of money sapped from them every month.

[mjb2124]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

Honestly, if someone offered a bid that was $25,000 below my asking price, I'd take it as an insult and either tell them the negotiation is off or throw something back just as absurd (ie: $149,000 on a $149,900 list). Then again, the market where I live is still doing well in this economy and $10,000 off the list price is a lot.

[dbeth]

I would prefer not to rent it out, and we're going to talk to our realtor tomorrow. We're thinking of countering with $139,000 and seeing what happens.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

[BestServedCold]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

I would take it tbh

[24]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

I wouldn't try to push the price too hard because the concept of breaking even in the housing market today is fantastic.

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

I wouldn't be surprised if they turn down any counter offer. Making an offer that low makes me think they're trying to find someone desperate to sell so they can get a great deal. If you don't take the offer, they'll probably just move on to another house that has been on the market a long time.

[cjonesfan921]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

I wouldn't be surprised if they turn down any counter offer. Making an offer that low makes me think they're trying to find someone desperate to sell so they can get a great deal. If you don't take the offer, they'll probably just move on to another house that has been on the market a long time.

I agree. Be patient.

That is someone who is obviously a shrewd businessman(woman). Most likely looking for desperate sellers in order to make a profit of it.

He dangles the prospects of CASH, in order to persuade you even more.

Take it easy, it's a long process. Get what you can, out of it.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

In terms of real estate, asking strangers on a message board probably isn't the best idea.

Your real estate agent should be the one offering advice. A roughly 25K below asking price offer is pretty insulting though depending on the market in the area. The buyer offering cash means nothing.

[duffman]

Re: Got an offer on our house...and need some help please.

This might be a little long-winded but I just went through buying a house last April and selling it now due to a job transfer, so I've been dealing with this stuff on both ends alot in the last year and a half so figured maybe I could help.

I actually am in the process of selling mine, we started out listed just under 250K about 5 months ago and I'm finally going to contract for 220K. The market here on Long Island is in real bad shape right now, but what I learned is that you really need to try and look at comparable recent sales (say in the last 3 months or so) in your area. The problem with my sale was that I told my realtor initially what we wanted to sell for, and she went with the mindset of "Well we can try for that and see what happens". I had 2 separate offers prior to the one we accepted (one was 25K under list the other was 30K under list). After countering back and forth both fell through, the first buyers went for a house about double the size of mine that had just dropped in price down to around where mine was at the time, the second buyers finally came up to 10K under list after a month of negotiations but then bailed out once it came time to start paying for inspectors and appraisers and such.

Long story short, had we been realistic about comparables and recent sales we probably would have realized that we were holding out for what we "wanted" to get out of it as opposed to what someone was likely going to be willing to pay for it (which is really all it's worth in the end). I was holding out for what I paid last April, plus the 15K in repairs I put in and my closing costs (10K) from purchasing, but that just wasn't realistic considering that the average prices around here had dropped another 5-10% from when I had purchased.

If you don't "need" to sell now, then don't feel like you have to take this offer. But if you're selling to move into a bigger/better house and can swallow a bit of a loss at this time or even a break-even, then you just have to find the bottom line that you can take to get into your next place and hold for that if you really want to move. Once i realized that all i needed to do in order to sell and be able to take the next step was that i needed to get around 220K for it, we dropped our list price accordingly and got our third offer (about a week after the second offer had fallen through) and now I should be closing in mid-January.

Obviously every real estate market is different, but do yourself a favor and try to look up recent sales in your area on redfin.com or zillow.com (or any other real estate sites that cover your area) to try and get an idea of what similar homes are going for. Also, take a look at your current competition, but even this doesn't carry as much weight because other listings might be overpriced and you never know what other people would accept in the way of lower offers.