A good deal, today...

Many of you have heard that it's a buyer's market, and buyers are offering 10 to 20% below the asking prices.  The real question is,  are sellers accepting such offers?  Well friends, I have a real world example for you.  Not hearsay, but a first hand account.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I decided to test the waters to see if perhaps instead of waiting for the bottom of the market, we could get something now, that would be priced low enough to weather the storm.  

We found a large townhouse in Irvine that we liked.  At the time it was priced at $649,900.  We decided to offer $560,000, 13.8% less than the asking price.  The seller promptly said no.  We followed up with a second offer of $575,000,  11.5% less than the asking price.  Again, the seller was quick to reject this offer.  We decided not to make any additional offers, and opted instead to continue to wait because we weren't confident even at $575,000 that we would have been future-proofed from falling prices.  Ironically, about a few weeks later, the agent called us back and said the seller was ready to consider our offer of $575,000!!!  We had the sad duty of informing her that we've decided to wait, and explained why.  She understood.

Friends, sellers are highly motivated to sell.  However, they have a number in mind that they were expecting, and sometimes it takes a while to digest the thought of getting significantly less.  Many of them have not yet come to grips with how significantly the market has changed in such a short time.  Some unfortunately understand the state of the market, but just can't afford to accept lower offers, as there's already no equity.  The circumstances of the seller will dictate how much less they are willing to take (if any at all).

The moral of this blog entry is this.  Don't be afraid to offer lower than the asking price, because remember friends, a good buy today, may not be a good deal tomorrow...