We're getting ready to make an offer on a house... any good strategies? We went and looked at it yesterday and there are things that need to be fixed/replaced such as:

New carpet/flooring throughout
Needs to be repainted
New front door (don't like the one there now)
Some new guttering
Fence the back yard
New lighting fixture in first bathroom
Previous owner was a smoker


The home is a 4 br, 2 bath home that is about 10 years old in a great neighborhood (very kid/family friendly) and has a 2-car garage and about 3/10 of an acre of land. We are offering 67,500.00 and they are asking 72,500.00.

Keep in mind, I live in Arkansas, and the cost of living down here is WAAY lower than alot of places. Here is a pic of the outside of the house:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4df26b3127cce8652dfaf12b40000001610

Thanks for any feedback :)

I really doubt you'll get some of the things you would want (especially the fence... very expensive) when you are going $5K below their asking price. You never know though. It really all depends on the market there and how desirable that house is. They are really only compelled to fix the things that wouldn't pass inspection. Nothing on your list, with the exception of the light fixture -- depending on what's wrong with it, would prevent the home from passing inspection.

Good luck. Hopefully they'll give you everything you want!

In my opinion based on my experiences on buying homes, of which I have only done twice, I would say offer 65k and negotiate to have the seller pay all of the closing fees. Use all the things that you have listed above as negotiating points to keep your purchase price as low as possible. Focus on paint and carpet (those being high dollar items) as reasons to bring the asking price down. I would say don't accept a cash allowance for having the work done (they may or may not offer something like that as a bargaining chip). If your market is slow, and the seller needs to get moving on a deal, they will come back with what will probably be a mostly acceptable offer. Best of luck in what ever deal you can reach with the seller.

We know they are not offering a carpeting or painting allowance, that is why we are offering low, and we don't expect the things on our list to be done, its things that we want to do to make the house livable to us. I definitely plan to negotiate for closing costs. Thanks for the advice :)

Wow - I am insanely jealous of your cost of living!!!

If you really want the place, write a letter and give it to them w/ your offer. We did it and it got us our house :) We talked about how their house was the perfect place for us to raise our family b/c of the size, neighborhood, etc. We said that (at the time) we had one son and were expecting twins, yada yada. I thought it was corny, but several people had testified that they got their homes b/c of a letter

If the fence is urgent, then do consider that in your offer. Fencing can be EXPENSIVE (at least in our area). Fencing our moderately sized back yard with a standard privacy fence (6 ft) would probably cost more than repainting and recarpeting our house. That is NOT a small repair or improvement to make!!!

It depends on how the market is there. When we bought our house 3.5 years ago, the market here was red hot and you had to offer the asking price or they wouldn't even talk to you. But we lucked out and got the cheap house in the neighborhood. We paid the asking price, but it was a low asking price. Now the market has cooled off and is a real buyer's market, so everyone is offering well below the asking prices.

Do you know if the sellers are motivated? That is, are they relocating or have an offer to buy a house contingent on selling their's, or something like that? Or has it been on the market a long time. That would give you some more leverage.

Also, once you go to contract and do the inspection, you can negotiate on things that turned up. We got about $1,000 back from the seller's to fix things that were in the inspection report. None of them were "required" fixes, but they were things that would be expected to be in good condition, like the front steps had sunk so they paid for mudjacking them, and the bedroom carpet was really lumpy so they paid for carpet stretching.

Good luck,

Dennis

My DH just bought a house that they were asking 69,500 and got it for 65k so you might just be accepted. :) there were two other offers on the home when we made our offer and had the better offer. it needs lots of work and is only 2 years old. they were selling it way below tax value. we lucked out!