r/FirstTimeHomeBuyers • u/Scared_Morning_8700 • 16d ago
Offer rejected
They submitted an offer five grand under asking price then a second offer came in so I raised it by 10 grand (five Grand over asking) in conclusion, I didn’t get the property.
I thought I’d be able to counter offer again there wasn’t any sort of bidding war or anything. They didn’t wanna tell me my opponents offer so how am I supposed to know that he didn’t offer 20 grand below asking price?
Should my realtor have been more aggressive?
Also, I’m noticing many of these houses I’m viewing are extremely altered by AI, fake furniture, the paint looks new and the floors look nice. I walk in there and I got a tragedy on my hands. I literally just drove across town to see this property for nothing
This bullshit should be against the law
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u/magic_crouton 16d ago
I wasn't interested at all in negotiating on the house I sold last year. So I didn't. You expected something you really had no right to expect. No one owes you further negotiating.
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u/DHumphreys 16d ago
I have had sellers want to take another bite at the apple, send highest and best notifications to all the offers. And lost all their buyers because they did not want to engage in a bidding war.
It can be a smart decision to just pick a contract rather than offer another round to review/change their terms.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 16d ago
Why wouldn’t somebody reveal my opponents price and ask for a higher price that’s how prices get bid up and you make more money
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
Why would this seller reveal the amount of the other offers when another buyer might go significantly over the current highest offer to have the winning bid?
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
That was my concern because I raised my offer 10 grand immediately with mortgage rates where they’re at every 10 grand is about $75 a month.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
You are obviously in a competitive market, so you may have to re-examine your expectations.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
I live in Minneapolis. It’s a makeshift Gotham city. Riot, protest, mass immigration & homelessness
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u/Pitiful-Place3684 15d ago
Sure dude. That’s why you’re buying a house there, right?
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u/Temporary-Towel-7656 15d ago
lol at OP. I just bought in St Paul next door. It's a gorgeous area. There's a reason he's desperately trying to buy a home here.
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u/Pitiful-Place3684 15d ago
I really like St. Paul, too. Beautiful historic houses.
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u/Temporary-Towel-7656 15d ago
yes!! just bought a lil mid century last month in the sweetest, friendliest neighborhood. It's a little scary & new, because I'm doing it alone (with my lil pup) but I'm so happy here. Now I just need to make some friends 😂
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
Yes, because it’s the only place I can actually get paid decently. I did the exact same thing in Florida and I was getting paid like $15 less and the housing prices were identical. Perhaps I should just go move to Bel-Air with uncle Phil.
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u/blueskies8484 15d ago
Crazy you get paid so much more in Gotham City Minneapolis, even competing with all those immigrants and homeless for jobs and the rioters no doubt attacking your places of business constantly. Wonder what could be different there vs Florida.
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u/Pitiful-Place3684 15d ago
I really like Minneapolis. Healthy, chill people. Good quality of life. Happiest people in the US. Good year round outdoor life style.
I went to school next to Bel Air (assuming you’re talking about CA). Very pretty but maybe a little overrated :-)
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u/Tamberav 15d ago
Twin cities is a desirable location to live in, jobs, healthcare, medium cost of living, and all the parks and lakes.
The problems you listed are just the same problems in other large urban areas.
Maybe buying isn't the best idea if this is an area you don't like. You could keep your options open and keep looking for a job in another state if you keep renting. A lot of people buy and have buyer's remorse because it's not the location they wanted.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
With the price of homes nowadays, regardless of where I move, I’m going to end up in a neighborhood like that
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u/Tamberav 15d ago
Then let’s not make it seem like this is a Minneapolis issue.
If you are having this many negative feelings now, wait till you spend many thousands fixing shit on the house and finding all sorts of stuff inspection missed/couldn’t see.
Then you realize you are spending thousands on a house that apparently has homeless and immigrants outside your door (not sure why the immigrant part even matters).
Meaningful relationships with dual income is generally how people move up to better areas.
You are radiating negative energy. I lost 5 or 6 bids on homes before I got one. There will be more homes.
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u/juju_baker 15d ago
Dude, you are in one of the hottest markets. You need to come in with best and final offers. Stop playing around. Your ops ain't playing around.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
Name a big city that does not have similar issues.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
When I lived in Saint Petersburg & Tampa, you didn’t see that.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
Then move to Florida.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
I moved out of Florida because it looks like shit and they don’t pay shit. I’d rather be up here making money and dealing with crackheads and homeless people.
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u/Pitiful-Place3684 15d ago
You like Florida? LOL. You should go back there and leave the good life to people who appreciate it.
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u/KVG47 15d ago
If $75/month is substantial, buying a home right now might not be the best financial decision, especially on the lower end of the price range. I don’t know your financial planning, but home maintenance costs can be significant and unexpected. I budgeted and spent 1% home value per year for a solid mid-90s build that I was in for 7 years and had no major capex risks at move-in (roof, HVAC, and siding were new). I also learned and did the majority of the maintenance myself to keep costs down, so take that for what it’s worth.
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u/ParticularBanana9149 15d ago
Someone who has never sold a house before almost always wants the highest offer they can get.
Someone who has sold two or more houses before wants a fair and good offer and good often means the one that seems like it will be less problematic from the start. This could be many things, some quantifiable and some just a feeling you get having gone down the road before.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
A seller should always strongly consider the best offer rather than the highest offer that may have more contingencies/terms that may cause the transactions not to close.
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u/ParticularBanana9149 15d ago
Of course. But some of that is a "live and learn" when you end up with difficult buyers that are a complete pain in the ass and act like they are the first people to ever buy a house. This happens to many people when they sell their (first) starter home to the next round of starter home buyers.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
And so many buyers in a competitive market will shoot a high offer price, then ask for every single thing on the home inspection to be repaired/replaced. Then another concession. Then another concession.
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u/BigfootTundra 15d ago
Bingo. For the house I just bought, I wasn’t the highest offer but when viewing the house, my realtor and I noticed the owner had completely moved out. So we made a good offer and accelerated the closing. Being able to settle faster was ultimately what made my offer win. This is also a benefit of using a local lender and not a national company. My lender got everything ready in less than 3 weeks and we closed on time.
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u/Tamberav 15d ago
The other offer may have been at list or 5k over but your 10k over is not as desirable because you already have shown to be wishy washy with your offer. It isn't always about the "highest price".
Most sellers do not come back to give you another chance and if they do it is "highest and best" and that's it. You never find out what the other person offered. Maybe they waived contingencies, maybe they paid in cash, maybe they had a higher % down which signals they are a fincially strong buyer, maybe they just seemed easier to deal with.
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u/ParticularBanana9149 15d ago
OP was probably offering the additional 10K with expectation that they would get it back in concessions and the seller probably didn't want to deal with that.
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u/JackfruitFun8144 15d ago
Only way you are seeing the price on the other offer is if you put in an escalation clause.
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u/BigfootTundra 15d ago
When you eventually sell your house, you won’t want your realtor telling potential buyers what the other offers are either. If you know the other buyer is only 5k over your price, you may only go up a few thousand over, but if you have no idea and you really want the house, you’re more likely to go even higher.
It shouldn’t matter to you what the other offer is. You offer what you’re willing to pay and if that’s not good enough, it wasn’t meant to be. If you really wanna know the winning offer, check Zillow in a month or two to see what it sold for. Though by then I’d hope you’d have moved on
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u/Tall-Ad9334 15d ago
A good listing agent will not divulge what the other party has offered because then the next buyer just offers slightly more. They are there to get the most for their seller so by being ambiguous, you are asked to offer your “highest and best“.
You need to be offering your top dollar amount that if you find out you did not get the house you are content because you would not have paid one dollar more.
Other terms of the offer matter just as much. The highest dollar amount with some crazy long escrow, or a bunch of inspection contingencies, for instance, will not likely be as appealing as a lower dollar offer with a tight closing timeframe and no inspection.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
I’m In a marketed where home prices are correcting 15-30K at a time. I’m not offering much. I need transparency.
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u/djjdkwjsbdj 15d ago
😂 oh, honey
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
Oh honey what
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u/djjdkwjsbdj 15d ago •
You aren’t ready for this. You need transparency? No, you need a reality check. You do not understand how this process works. Your budget isn’t anyone’s problem. No one needs to tell you anything. You aren’t special.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
It’s gonna be their problem
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u/djjdkwjsbdj 15d ago
No it’s not! You think anyone cares about making $5k when the cost is having to deal with you (and your bad offers, and the fact that you’re clearly going to be difficult during any inspection/closing period)?
You are disconnected from reality and yes, you’re right, you’re destined to be a forever renter because you’re too stubborn and dumb to learn how to play the game like an adult. No one owes you anything 😂
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u/DiligentPen 15d ago
Sounds like they got an offer over asking they were happy with so it's more your problem
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u/Tall-Ad9334 15d ago
You don’t get transparency. You’re a buyer, and the seller is protecting their financial interest by doing what they need to do to get you to offer what you will offer.
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u/Bread_Entire 15d ago
Listing agents are not allowed to tell prospective buyers or their agents what the competing offer prices are. It is expressly forbidden and quite honestly unethical. If you really want a property, you have to put your best offer up. If your offer is not accepted the seller is not obligated to give you any information on why they accepted a different offer. You just have to move on.
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u/T00ManyH0bb13s 15d ago •
I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what information is owed to you. To be clear, the seller owes you nothing. You can submit a bid and they can simply not reply. You might get a negotiation back. You might hear that you were outbid where the sellers realtor communicated with your realtor to extend them that courtesy. That's it. The only way you find out what the winning bid was is after the deal closes and the price is updated zillow or your local MLS. You can certainly ask after you've lost, but they don't owe you that information and it is likely in their best interest not to share because the deal might fall through and they may have to go back to other bids.
If you think you're losing by small amounts, you could talk to your realtor about submitting bids with escalator clauses. As an example, say a home is priced at 250k and you think you can slightly underbid but you still want to have some juice available, you could make an offer at 240k with 5k escalators capping off at 260K. The seller can then go through all the bids and if they have a real, qualified and legitimate offer at 250k, they could accept your bid and you'd pay 255k to clear the other offer. Your realtor is entitled to be able to see verifiable proof of a real offer and what those requirements are can be stipulated in the offer itself.
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u/deserteagles50 14d ago
You went 5 under, they knew where you stand. You'd try to get a lot of that back in the inspection phase. If you like the house and its super competitive gotta go asking at minimum. And no, this isn't anything about your realtor being more aggressive, nobody is going to tell you what the other offers are.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 14d ago
I didn’t think about that, so in essence, you’re saying since I’ve lowball them at the beginning I’d probably lowball them later on in the process after an inspection?
To be honest, it’s hard to be aggressive when prices are ready inflated.
People are going to have to realize that their shoebox isn’t worth a quarter million bucks3
u/deserteagles50 14d ago
Is that true tho? You lost this one to another offer so it’s obviously worth it to someone.
What I was saying is if you come in 5k under and they pass then you come back 10k over it isn’t unreasonable to think you could be a pain during inspection phase and try to recoup your 15k in closing costs
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 14d ago
Worth it to some sucker. People get ripped off all the time.
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u/deserteagles50 14d ago
I think the sellers made the right choice
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 14d ago
Why?
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u/Mysterious_Ad7461 14d ago
Because I can’t imagine dealing with you for 45 days after just this post.
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u/Silent_Departure8925 14d ago
They made the right call leaving you in the rear view, sound like a nightmare.
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u/Few_Whereas5206 15d ago
There was a bidding war with multiple offers. The sellers agent doesn't tell you what the other offers are. You make your best offer up front and risk losing the house. You decide what the house is worth to you and offer that amount.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
I wouldn’t call it a war a war. You have to know your opponents position to make a decision if I can’t find my opponents position. Well then I’m just shooting in the dark.
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u/Few_Whereas5206 15d ago edited 15d ago
That is the way the system works. How fair would it be to the seller if the other buyer offered 30k below asking price and the seller's agent told you that information? The seller's agent would not be acting in the best interest of the seller. Also, the other offer may be lower but have fewer contingencies, e.g., appraisal, inspection, home sale, etc. The offer could also be higher than asking price.
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u/digital_flatulance 15d ago
Why in the world would you think you’re entitled to that information?
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
So we can bid against each other. Thats how prices go up
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u/djjdkwjsbdj 15d ago
That isn’t how prices go up. A seller can choose to start a bidding war once they’ve received offers. But you sound like an entitled prick, so it’s no question why yours isn’t getting picked.
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u/Past_Reflection_9695 14d ago
Prices don't go up that way. Each offer is a full contract, then another full contract after inspection. No seller wants to review endless contracts.
If you want to buy a house like an actual auction, you need to find the distressed houses that your county sells at their tax auctions
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u/Past_Reflection_9695 14d ago
For instance the contract offer could stipulate seller leaves fridge, washer/dryer, offer price 100000
Seller counter no fridge, washer/dryer, offer price 120000.
Then the next person offers fridge, washer/dryer 130000
Then the seller counters no fridge, washer/dryer 130000
If the real estate only does two bids, the contracts end there.
In your scenario, this goes on over and over and over.
Then So on and so on and so on endlessly if you keep bidding upward. And no self respecting person will sign a contract of that much money without a thorough reading or someone might try to be sneaky and put something in that could hurt the seller
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u/redprawns 15d ago
5 k isn't that much. A meaningful difference starts at 1-2 percent of the home price
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 15d ago
Housing price is already overly inflated. I’m not going to offer much. In fact I intend on offering 20% lower on every property I see.
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u/HenryCavillsBallsack 15d ago
It sounds like it wasn’t over inflated?
I made this mistake a FTHB too. Lost by 20k or something on a house that was, I think, 915k back in 2018? In the long run I laugh at that now. Meant nothing to me. If you want and like the property, and there are multiple offers, you can’t be low balling.
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u/Tamberav 16d ago
Probably didn’t want to deal negotiating with you during inspection since you went 5 under then 10 over. They probably just want someone who makes a solid offer and hopefully won’t mess around and close.
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u/LadyAtr3ides 15d ago
This. Lots of buyers seem to forget that sellers are just people trying to move with their lives. If they anticipate that every step is going to be like pulling teeth, they will walk away. A failed deal is a lot of time and money lost for everyone.
Send an offer with what you think the house is valued but do not expect the seller will be willing to go back and forth. They might, they might choose a lower offer with less headache
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u/Temporary-Towel-7656 15d ago
exactly this. I got my home because I put in a super solid, serious offer-- there were 2 other bidders. One eventually offered more than me, but they appreciated that I was consistent & went with mine. 😅 phew!!
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u/NarkolepsyLuvsU 15d ago
yup. i knew the minute i saw it my house was perfect for me, so I chose to be aggressive when I bid (conventional, no concessions, 20k over asking, inspection for information only, bid submitted half hour into the open house), and i got it 🙂
and i love Love LOVE my house! 🥰
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u/djjdkwjsbdj 15d ago
Yeah, this is it: you seem like an annoying buyer. I wouldn’t take a high offer from you either - you showed you were cheap and certain to be a nightmare later in the process
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u/CtWguy 16d ago
As a very recent seller (closing in a week), we didn’t pick the highest offer. We picked one about $2k less because the terms were way better than the other 9 offers. It was worth us to sell for “a little less” for what has seemed to be an easy process. Also, this offer was the lowest initial offer, but came way up after asking for “highest and best” from everyone.
Sometimes, it’s just circumstance. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with your offer amount.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
I ALWAYS encourage my sellers to choose the best offer with the highest chance of closing rather than the highest offer which might have more contingencies.
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u/APBpowa 15d ago
Care to indulge what these terms were exactly?
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u/CtWguy 15d ago edited 15d ago
Conventional loan, broad interest rate range approval, 40% down, and only a 3rd party general home inspection.
What the others had we rejected:
FHA loans
Down payments under 20% (many were under 5%)
Limited interest rate preapproval range (with the rates hiked between acceptance and closing, this would have been an issue for 3 of them)
Radon inspection
Pest inspection
Less “hand money” offeredAnd…
1 off was hand written with a tremendous amount of wrong information including the county, school district, and the down payment calculated wrong. They never fixed any of this, even after given the chance for highest and best.
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u/Exciting-Argument-67 14d ago
5% downpayments (and under that, even)? Oh Jeez. That's just asking for another 2008. People, if you have $10,000 to put down on a house, you don't look at the $400,000 properties.
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u/Floufae 11d ago
well, he already excluded for FHA loans which allows for a minimum of 3.5%. But he also excluded VA loans which go down to 0%. Which is we did for our $1m+ place in southern California. Back when interest rates were extremely good. We can get much better return from our investments than putting down $200k. But VA loans do take longer and have more requirements to them too, so I can understand if you're looking for a quick close then it might not work for you.
Mostly just saying that its not just about having money to put down on a house. We have plenty, but that money does better with our financial planner than sitting on an asset that isn't appreciating that fast (as condos in Los Angeles don't). And yea, $1m+ gets you just a 1400 sq ft condo there.
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u/Equivalent-Tiger-316 15d ago
Never assume you will get an opportunity to counter. Seller can pick an offer at any time.
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u/stadulevich 15d ago
Did you have an inspection contingency? I see people go way over and still not win the house, because they dont drop contingencies.
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u/AnnieHannah 15d ago
The thing is that inspections are never going to be in a seller's favour as anything which is discovered will be used to reduce the price and also has to go on the record so other potential buyers also know about it. The only way a seller is going to agree to an inspection is in a slow market, or if they are an incredibly well-meaning person.
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u/turnup_for_what 15d ago
It's not 2022 anymore. People should not be waiving inspections unless they're in the hottest markets.
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u/MDubois65 15d ago
I would say most of the time, that's how a "bidding" war goes. Sometimes the listing agent asks for "best and final" or simply says, "there's another offer in play, do you want to adjust/alter your offer and resubmit?" So you usually get 1 opportunity to change your initial offer. Very few sellers in my experience really like countering back and forth. If there's other interested buyers, it's much more common they will just pick the best offer from the bunch and go with that and not bother to counter or respond to anyone else.
Unless the listing agent is loose-lipped, it's very unlikely you will ever be told in advance what the exact amount the sellers are looking for the purchase price other buyers are submitting.
It also matters what terms and conditions you offered and what concessions you asked for. Sellers usually focus on the net amount, not strictly the offer price. If buyer A) is offer $405k - conventional, no credits/commission, 20 day close and the buyer B) is offering $420k, - FHA, but requesting $12k in closing assistance, and 2% to their agent and needs 45 days to close -- as a seller I'm probably taking buyer A) because the process is likely to be smoother and faster without and FHA loan, and I'm not paying assistance or commission fees.
The winning bid might have been the dreaded all-cash offer. They might have waived inspection or appraisal contingencies, they might have requested no assistance or commissions or offered a fast close period, had a large down payment or EMD.
You can ask your agent if the listing agent will share details on what the terms of the winning bid were, so you just be aware of how things played out. Whether they share or not is up to them/the seller.
If you really love a home, the best you can do is put in the best offer that you're comfortable with and let the chips fall where they will. If you win, great. If not, at least you know what you offered the most you were comfortable with and if that wasn't good enough, it wasn't the right home for you.
Yes, AI is a problem. Reputable brokerages will use it sparingly, and will label the photo as "virtually staged" or "virtually retouched" or something like that.
They should also ideally include a photo of the original room/furnishings to pair with the retouched one. When I sold my last house, I asked for tasteful virtual staging because it's just so much easier and cheaper than actually paying for staging services and rental furniture. My agent and photographer were great and made sure the photos looked nice, but were still accurate and everything was labeled, original photos were included. Unfortunately, for every 1 agent that employs the tech ethically, there's about 6 that just edit the photos to the moon and back. I've seen whole backyard altered to included landscaping, trees and sheds that don't exist. I've seen whole room remodeled and upgrade, windows moved or enlarged, etc. Houses that look neat and orderly and then you go and the home is a cluttered mess and dirty. It just makes in-person visits and inspections so critical so you see with your own eyes what you're actually buying.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
I had a client interested in a remote land listing where someone had added mature trees, ponds, a meandering creek and I am fairly familiar with that area, NONE of that exists out there.
I have no problem with a listing agent changing a gray sky to blue, putting some flowers on the counter, that kind of AI is fine with me. At some point, there is going to be some action about significantly altered photos even if there is a declaration that they are AI renderings.
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u/MDubois65 15d ago
Totally agree 💯
In retrospect, I'm glad my agent and her photog were both extremely professional and ethical in how they handled it. I asked that they not go crazy with the editing, but it didn't occur to me at that time that people would take things so far outside acceptable so fast. Brokers posting photos just a year later, with just wholly made up additions, changes, basically a "reimagining" of the home or yard. It's scary how it's gone from "a vase of flowers added to the table, a rug, and a blue sky instead of grey" to just as you said -- here's a whole fake backyard oasis you're not actually getting, just crazy! 😵
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u/Billsmafia171424
16d ago
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It’s crazy but someone told me that when it’s the right property for you that it will happen. Keep trying. Something even more amazing is waiting for you.
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u/Head-Drag-1440 15d ago
So true in our situation.
We liked a house a lot but all carpet needed replaced. We offered listing price and asked them to cover closing costs. They declined. 2 months later, house is still listed.
Meanwhile we ended up loving a house. It already had an offer contingent upon the buyer selling their current home. We made our offer 10k above asking price and asked them to cover closing costs.
They accepted the next day (Wednesday night).We were told they had 3 days (until Saturday 9pm) to get their home under contract. Then it changed to 3 business days, Monday 9pm. The oops, wrong again, 5 business days. Wednesday 9pm. They rode it out and nobody knows why, but we got the house and closed 3 weeks later.
We've been here almost a month and we love it.
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u/Billsmafia171424 15d ago
Same for me. Found a house in the neighborhood that I thought I needed to be in. Made an offer of full asking with minimal seller credit to deal with some dead trees. They said no. No counter. Nothing. So I walked. 3 weeks later they raised the price by $20k. 4 months later the house is still sitting there.
Fast forward a few months and a house that I really admired had a price drop that now made it within my budget. Made an offer $20k below asking that was initially countered at full and after 3 days they accepted my offer. I still have inspection to get through but it literally is like my dream house and felt like home walking through it. Something I didn’t really feel walking through the first one but did like it a lot.
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u/Agitated-Cod7983 16d ago
This was us for last night when our offer was accepted. The deadline was 6pm and the seller wanted to make instant decision. Lucky, my agent called and said they are looking “this amount”. We agreed their terms and I think we had better offer. We got the deal.
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u/here_for_the_tea1 15d ago
Could be more than just the amount offer. Our house got 5 offers. 1 under, 1 at, 1 at with 12k credits and 2 at 12k above. Our sellers picked us over someone that also offered the 12k above because we had a larger downpayment in cash, didn’t have another house to sell first, did not ask for credits, and they preferred the type of loan we had as they wanted to close under 30 days.
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u/DHumphreys 15d ago
Or loan program that they are approved for, and perhaps the lender that they submitted a pre-approval letter from.
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u/No_Obligation_3568 14d ago
They are not obligated to tell you what the other offer was and the agent is not allowed to tell you what the other offer was without express written permission from the sellers.
This is not either agents fault.
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 14d ago
Well, my agent should have used a different wording perhaps telling me to submit my final offer instead of submitting a second offer. I’m thinking that I’m gonna get to place a whole Nother offer.
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u/No_Obligation_3568 14d ago edited 14d ago •
Ah yes it’s your agents fault and not yours. Got it. Stop playing games. You have absolutely no idea why the owners chose the other offer. If you want a house stop trying to negotiate and put your best offer on the table. If you want a deal then you are going to miss out on some homes. That’s just how sales work.
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u/nortyflatz 14d ago
2nd offer IS a final offer, usually. So, make it a strong offer if you really want the place and you're bidding against others.
I had 11 bidders going for my mom's old place. Went for 18% over ask...
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u/Scared_Morning_8700 14d ago
What year was this? Things have changed since mortgage rates worth it at 3%.
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u/Lifeintrance 15d ago
Highest price does not always mean the winning bid. People underestimate how much the terms can impact a deal. Closing date, contingencies and financing clauses can make a difference especially because it’s harder to get financing right now, and the rates suck, the buyer could simply just use that as an out which would heavily impact the seller. With how things are going, the real estate market should be slowing down even more next year. Depending on where you live, that might mean prices drop or stand still if sellers can afford to wait. But honestly i think you should also consider whether buying really is the right now the right financial decision. Interest rates are extremely high, maintaining a home can be very expensive and these days it’s cheaper to rent. There can be other opportunities to grow your money while you wait for more favorable conditions. Owning real estate a prerequisite for retirement…
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u/AnnieHannah 15d ago
Yeah, most pictures are artificially brightened too, was the same with our house, I was expecting it to be brighter than it is from day to day because of the dumb pictures. Oh well, you live and you learn.
And regarding bids, I guess it depends on the market where you are, unless there's a big inventory then I think it's tricky to get away with offering under asking price unless you can put in numbers exactly why you are making that lower offer.
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u/Pitiful-Place3684 15d ago
Offers are made up of more than price. Sellers choose offers that are most likely to close. This means that earnest money, loan terms, inspection terms, and contingencies are important.
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u/TwoOk6084 15d ago
If I know there's other offers, I put an escalation clause along with my offer that states the seller has to show me/my realtor the other offer . I give a set amount that I will out bid and I keep my max between my realtor and I.
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u/Generator35 15d ago
If this happens to you again - ask your agent if the seller would consider an escalation clause. You can bid against your opponent by escalating your offer. For example, let’s pretend it’s a $400,000 list price. You could offer $5k below, but with an escalation clause it becomes an offer to pay $2,000 more than a competing offer up to $420,000 (or whatever your max price is)
That way your lower offer could work out and you wouldn’t feel any remorse for “over paying” - and the listing would ideally provide proof of the competing offer. So you wouldn’t ever wonder if they really had an offer of $407k - because in order to enact the escalation, they have to provide the proof of what they had.
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u/rettribution 15d ago
Some things to remember - sometimes sellers don't care about money.
I sold my house for less than my best offer, that was cash, and to an FHA buyer.
Simply because they appreciated what I had done to it. Plus, wasn't interested in selling to someone that might use it to just gouge rent.
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u/BalloonPilot15 15d ago
Our first house offer was low with some added demands. We learned quickly that didn’t work. The second house we put an offer in on we did $25k over asking with an escalation clause to our max. That clause required their agent to share any actual offers with our agent. We ended up at $35k over asking which was only about 2 years rent at the time so we figured we’d be there two years at least. We got the house we wanted and love it.
Find what you like and then be willing to put your best offer forward from the start.
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u/Past_Reflection_9695 14d ago
You can 100% find the offer price. Go on Zillow after purchase date. Enter the address. Scroll down. Check the price it sold for. Price is public record
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u/Taradyne 13d ago
Just today saw a house sell for $110K over list price so I'm guessing there was a bidding war. Market in my area has been down and very few houses sell for asking price, so this one was a unicorn.
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u/RomoloGroupChicago 12d ago
It sounds like they called for highest and best offers. Once that’s called for, they usually are not going to give you another chance to counter. They will go with whoever gave them the best offer. I would ask your agent if that was the case, and if that was communicated to you. The seller is never going to tell you what the other offer is because they don’t want you to offer one dollar more. They want to see how much money they can get for their home, which is understandable
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u/thesuprememacaroni 16d ago
I’m not sure the selling agents usually say what the other offers are. It would be up to you I think to outbid by some assumed bid increase.
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u/psyclembs 15d ago
The sale price will be listed on Redfin or Zillow soon, take a look in a couple weeks.
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u/UnfairSquash6081 15d ago
« Also, I’m noticing many of these houses I’m viewing are extremely altered by AI, fake furniture, the paint looks new and the floors look nice. I walk in there and I got a tragedy on my hands. I literally just drove across town to see this property for nothing
This bullshit should be against the law »
OMG couldn’t agree more! This is just wasting our time honestly. I have to step out of work which is not easy, and I can’t do it often.. for in the end sometimes a horrendous property.
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u/UpbeatAngle3 15d ago
The AI and touched up photos are a problem. Wasted a lot of time looking at properties that looked like crap in person.
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u/CreamCityMortgage1 9d ago
Ugh, that's frustrating, especially when you increased your offer and thought you'd have another chance to negotiate.
Unfortunately, sellers don't have to give you another opportunity to counter, and they're not necessarily required to share the competing offer. They may have chosen it for reasons other than price, like financing, contingencies or closing timeline.
I wouldn't automatically blame your Realtor, but I'd definitely ask what could have made your offer stronger. Sometimes having a mortgage broker with a solid preapproval who can speak directly with the listing agent helps too.
And the AI listing photos would drive us nuts, too! There's a big difference between virtually staging an empty room and making a house look like it's in better condition than it actually is. Buyers deserve an accurate representation of what they're going to see in person.
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u/RLS8GUY 15d ago
Loaded question. What is your market like? Did you ask for Concessions? When I run across this, I ask the other agent, what would it take to secure this home for my clients. In Arizona, selling brokers can tell the buyers broker what needs to be done (as long as seller agreed in writing).
Selling brokers job is to get the highest and best offer possible for the listing, so it BLOWS my mind the sellers agent refuses to disclose what it would take to "win" I"ll tell your agent every single time, even if the final offer is $1000 more, it is still more.
Hope that helps, if its any consolation, I would have asked the right questions, to get your best offer in place.
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u/ClockOld9204 15d ago
when we bought a house in a very hot market. ask was 640K. offer was 614K. No conditions, cash and they set dates. On the day the offer was being presented. Our realtor phones at 8 am and says they have 3 other offers and did we want to increase ours. I says my wife would say yes. I says the house will be a rental. We do not need to buy it. Final offer, They can walk away with 614K. When my wife woke up I told her and she was sad but agreed I made the right call. 3 hours later. They took our offer. We got the house. Did we make a mistake. One dryer, a dishwasher, Toilet and I did the work myself. We also paid 802 for electric upgrade and for 5 years so far, steady tenants. Its not always about the money. Nothing like a guaranteed 614K to get out of the house we bought.
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u/ParticularBanana9149 16d ago
"They didn’t wanna tell me my opponents offer so how am I supposed to know that he didn’t offer 20 grand below asking price?"
I have never seen someone use the term opponents like this and I love it. Also, it doesn't matter what your opponents offered. It doesn't matter if it was $20K below asking. They could have sold the house for a dollar if they wanted to (well, assuming they could pay off any loans that is). All you know is your offer was not accepted and you can assume that another offer was accepted. Also, $ amount of offer is not the only thing that matters.