When to stop going back and forth and take the offer

[Hammer23]

So I put an offer in on a house... here is how the the thread goes

List $169,900

My First Offer: $154,000 plus the seller pays $4000 costs and provides a 1 year home warranty

Thier first counter: $164,000 ok with everything else

My second counter: $160,000 --- Same as above

Their latest counter: $163,000 the same as above.

In the grand scheme of things we are close to a deal. To I try to counter back again and split the difference? Stand my ground at $160,00? or just take the $163,000?

What do you all think?

[rena347]

I think it comes down to how much do you want that particular house. It sounds like the sellers have come down $6,900 ( $169,900 t0 163,000) plus have agreed to pay $4,000 closing costs for a total of almost $11,000. The fact that they countered back the second time within $1,000 of their first counter offer pretty much tells me that price point is their pain threshold for how low they will go. If you are set on the $160,000 price you could counter offer again with the chance that they will say no.

There is a lot of information missing from your post like what is the market in your area? Do homes sit or sell quickly? Are homes selling at listing price or below? Is the home located in your preferred location? How desperate are the sellers? Are there any other interested buyers?

Anyway, I still get back to the question of how badly do you want that particular house. You are only $3,000 apart in price and in the grand scheme of things over a 30 year mortgage that's not very much. But on the other hand, if they are desperate to sell they might come down some more. So I guess I didn't answer your question. We were in the exact same position when we bought our house and we decided after the 2nd counteroffer that we wanted the house badly enough not to risk losing it so we went ahead and accepted. Each person's circumstances are different. Even though I didn't really answer your question, I wish you luck in your home quest!

[JenniferinFL]

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@Hammer23 wrote:

So I put an offer in on a house... here is how the the thread goes

List $169,900

My First Offer: $154,000 plus the seller pays $4000 costs and provides a 1 year home warranty

Thier first counter: $164,000 ok with everything else

My second counter: $160,000 --- Same as above

Their latest counter: $163,000 the same as above.

In the grand scheme of things we are close to a deal. To I try to counter back again and split the difference? Stand my ground at $160,00? or just take the $163,000?

What do you all think?

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Impossible to say without knowing the area. Really need to talk to your realtor and found out what they believe the house will appraise at. If the home won't appraise at $163,000, is it worth paying the difference if the seller won't budge? We don't make offers based on what the seller needs to get for it, our offers have been based on what the house will realistically appraise for. Now, if you have more money to play with and the house is the perfect one for you or has some special feature necessary to your happiness that you couldn't find in another home, well, then $3000 more isn't a huge amount in the big scheme of things. The house we have a contract on right now has a purchase price 25% below the asking price. The owner moved out of state 5 years ago and has no idea how the market has changed. We wrote up the contract in such a way that she could back out if it appraised significantly higher than our offer. But, I know our market area, the most it was going to appraise at was $82k, and that's exactly what it appraised at, our offer was $80k. We really like the home, but, it wasn't so perfect for us that we were willing to offer over what it would appraise for.

[boomhower]

It looks like they are pretty set on the price if they only dropped it $1k.  Is $3k worth losing the house over?  Is the house worth what they are wanting?

[Walt_K]

Keep in mind that while you are debating, someone else can come along and put in a better offer.  I would definitely consider how long the house has been sitting and what the general market is like in that area, and how much you like the house.  We were in a similar situation on the house we just purchased.  We hadn't gone back and forth as many times, but their counter was a few thousand different than what we had anticipated.  We really liked the house though.  And I didn't want to continue to negotiate with them over a couple thousand dollars and give someone else a chance to come in and give them a better offer.  We had already been in a multiple bid situation where the other buyer walked away.  I just wanted to lock it down.  If you're not that set on the house though, maybe your risk tolerance is different.