Need advice about offer!!

[MoreInfo1]

Hi all. First of all, I'd like to really thank the community for such great advice all the time. Anyway, I submitted an offer for a home recently and with advice from my agent, offered full asking price with minimal contingencies (regular stuff like contingent on getting the loan, etc) and asking seller to pay for 3.5% of closing costs. The offer price is for 190k.

After looking at properties similar to this home right on the same street (3 sold on the same street in past 3 months), I see that they have sold for 165k-176k. This home isn't upgraded or anything but appears to be move in ready with minimal work. My agent contacted me today letting me know that the sellers are going to come back with a counter offer asking for 195k in order to pay the 3.5% closing costs (also btw, this is the amount on the preapproval letter for a prior property I was interested in). Honestly, after seeing the other homes selling for much lower in the past couple months (the latest one was sold late 02/2014 for $165k, and the one that sold for 176k was almost 300 sq ft larger than this home, on a larger lot and has a pool), I really do not want to offer higher than what I've initially offered. I also don't think it'll appraise for much more than the 190k either.

Would it be normal for me to let my agent know that I won't budge on my offer? I had already been having second thoughts after I submitted the offer and am feeling kind of rushed now, especially as I've just started looking. Is this okay?

[dpechal]

I would do a little more research on the other homes that sold.  It sounds weird they sold in the $$ range you listed and this one is listed as 190k, there has to be a reason. Yours is smaller without a pool and is almost 25k more? strange . 

[Kenny]

IF you're having doubts.. listen to your heart after all this is the largest purchase in your life and most important one.

Best of luck!

[BaileyMae]

I'm new to this house buying process but won't the appraisal use the recently sold houses near by to set the value on the house you want? Kinda seems like the sellers have it listed much higher than the comps. I'd go with my gut and not budge if I was comfortable.

[MoreInfo1]

Homes in the area are less expensive than this one in general but most homes in this zip code are generally older. However, the homes in this subdivision are comparable to one another and I actually saw the one that sold last month which was comparable to this home too. It was on the market for about 60 days and asking price was around 190 as well but I didn't know how much it actually sold for until I looked it up a couple days ago. This home but the market. I didn't offer on the other one bc it was right across the street from people I wanted to avoid (that I know).

[dpechal]

That counter offer is just nuts, I wouldn't give them a dime more I feel your in the right here.  Keep us posted please im anxious to see what you are going to do.

[MoreInfo1]

I will update after I meet with him today. I should have thought it out more before putting in the offer, especially when my agent hasn't even looked up comps yet. He had just suggested we hoi with asking price and I felt we had to act with urgency because he had said it would go quickly =/

[fishbjc]

I think this 'agent' isn't looking out for you.  He/She is looking out for themselves.  I have purchased three homes, bid on five.  Never did my agent (3 different ones), suggest putting in an offer without looking at comps.

How does the agent 'know' this will go fast?  It sounds as though they're hoping for a fast paycheck.  This is just my experience and every area is different, of course.

Sometimes a home just grabs at our heart and it's so emotional.  Try to stay calm, you may have to walk away from this one if things don't work out for your wallet.  Good Luck!

[JustJen]

I'll second what others have said...I don't know how I would feel about an agent who let me put an offer in without having looked at any comps. The houses here don't stay on the market long either, so after I looked at the house I really liked my agent called the listing agent to see if anyone else was interested. It turned out that an offer had been submitted, so after discussing it with me we decided that just to get in the running I would need to put an offer in that day as well. The first thing he told me is before we put in the offer he wanted to take a look at the comps so he could get back to me with what he felt was a fair price for the property, because he wouldn't feel comfortable otherwise making a recommendation. He let the listing agent know to expect my offer in a couple hours, and it all worked out and I'm under contract for that house. 

I'm a first-time home buyer like you, so I think I've been really fortunate that the agent we went with truly looks out for our best interest, especially when there are so many things that go into this process that I wasn't aware of and it would be easy for someone to kinda pull the wool over my eyes.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

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@KennyS2006 wrote:
IF you're having doubts.. listen to your heart after all this is the largest purchase in your life and most important one.

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+1.  You are going to have to live with this decision for a considerable period of time.  If it doesn't sit well, and you feel you need to convince yourself, then it's probably not the right home for you.  I'd counter their counter with an even lower price.  You can always ask the seller's agent why they think it's worth what they are asking for it, they aren't obligated to answer but if they truly want to sell the home you'd think they'd have an excellent reason to justify their ask price.  If they don't, then it's a good sign to stay away because even they can't justify why they are selling it for that much.