House Bid Advice

[ndsgr]

As I have posted, I am moving to the Dayton area soon. After looking into rent, my wife and I are leaning to buying a home.

My question is what is considered a fair offer? For example, there is a $200k home that I would obviously like to pay less for. It's been on the market for ">180 days".

This is my first home purchase and am going to hire an agent, but I want an idea of what to expect. I also don't know the consequences of severely underbidding a house aside from insulting the seller. Every answer I google ends in "it depends on the area".

Any help is appreciated!

[YelloJeep]

Originally Posted by ndsgr

...... I also don't know the consequences of severely underbidding a house aside from insulting the seller. ...........Every answer I google ends in "it depends on the area".

Any help is appreciated!

I have only purchased (built) one home so I am by no means an expert. I will weigh in, however.

First, I wouldn't worry about insulting a seller, the worst they can do is say no. Hopefully they would come back with a counteroffer. Second, there is a reason that the only thing you can find is "it depends on the area". Because it does. You should look at the actual SELLING prices of similar houses in the area, and keep in mind that who pays closing and such is also a legitimate part of the negotiation. Also, how long it has been on the market will likely dictate how much the seller is willing to move on the price. Good luck! Hopefully others will chime in with other useful info.

[ndsgr]

Thanks for the response.

How do you look up selling prices?

[YelloJeep]

Zillow.com has some interesting stuff. I think you can put in the name of an area or city and in the upper left you can check or uncheck what you want it to show. I think the choices are homes for sale, for rent, or recently sold.
Here, I linked yo to the "dayton, Ohio" listings for recently sold. They also give their estimate of home value. The ones it shows appear to have sold WAY under the Zillow estimate....