You'll recall we were very hot for a house by private sale. It's been 4 months since we went through it. It's been 33 days since we made an offer of $450. They rejected that, and I had a discussion with the owner which went something like this:
"Chris, Emma and I know the market we are buying in; we have been looking at houses for 9 months now. The house isn't worth $500, and it isn't worth $490. For $500 we can buy a brand spanking new four-bedroom home, on 800 sq. metres of land.... We want you to make a counter offer with this in mind."
Yesterday we got the counter at $510.
Not only that, but he the tenants have a fixed term contract with expires on March 18th 2006.
We're pretty gutted, as it seems we've wasted 4 months and $1500 in the process of discovering he's a fool, and a liar. (He had previosuly told me the tenants required only 6 weeks notice.)
I'll write him a polite letter telling him we're still miles apart on price, and if he feels like moving on that, and offering vacant possession at settlement date, then he should get back to us sometime, but in the meantime, we will continue shopping for a house in the $475 range.
*BIG SIGH*
Trials and tribulations of house buying: Part II
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Flabby Chick
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Re: Trials and tribulations of house buying: Part II
If you can't be bothered to check your spelling, i'm not bothering to read.Mobius wrote:(He had previosuly told me the tenants required only 6 weeks notice.)
Re: Trials and tribulations of house buying: Part II
hmm . . . something about living in glass houses and throwing stones . . .Mobius wrote:Not only that, but he the tenants have a fixed term contract with expires on March 18th 2006.
Mobius, isn't your opinion of poor grammar, spelling etc., something along the lines of:
from phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8103
Mobius wrote:It says: I am lazy, stupid, and uneducated. It doesn't matter how smart you are, or what you have to say, because if you can't express yourself clearly in correct English then no one will take you seriously - EVER.
/me ignores all the other comments,,
but my family has been looking for a new house for about 2 years now, everytime we see a house that we actually like something is wrong with it. First house was vandalized and completely messed up, second house the owner declared bankruptcy and 3 different banks were fighting over possession of the home, third house had a bad termite problem. So now the fourth house we agreed on, just replace the roof, and the back window, some kid had thrown a ball at it or something. Still remodeling it, might throw up a few pics when it all gets done!
but my family has been looking for a new house for about 2 years now, everytime we see a house that we actually like something is wrong with it. First house was vandalized and completely messed up, second house the owner declared bankruptcy and 3 different banks were fighting over possession of the home, third house had a bad termite problem. So now the fourth house we agreed on, just replace the roof, and the back window, some kid had thrown a ball at it or something. Still remodeling it, might throw up a few pics when it all gets done!
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Foil
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Back on topic...
I find it amazing how people (both buyers and sellers) sometimes try to negotiate. Apparently they think that ridiculous offers and/or asking prices will tend to sway the final price their way, when it only serves to drive away the people they're working with.
Ex:
My neighbor sold his house a couple of months back. His initial asking price was reasonable: about 2-3% above normal for the neighborhood, but his house was in superb condition, and he eventually came down a bit on his price.
At one point, he was actually given an offer by a buyer of about 35% less than his asking price! Needless to say, the "negotiations" ended there.
Ex:
When my wife and I initially began looking to buy a small house a couple of years ago, we saw more than a few sellers who were asking for amounts which were at least 30% too high.
As potential buyers, we didn't even take a second look at those houses, even the ones which appealed to us.
I don't understand why people try to negotiate from such extremes... at least for me, if a person asks or offers something reasonable, I'll be much more willing to enter into some negotiations (and possibly come to an agreement) than if they tried to begin with an outrageous amount.
I find it amazing how people (both buyers and sellers) sometimes try to negotiate. Apparently they think that ridiculous offers and/or asking prices will tend to sway the final price their way, when it only serves to drive away the people they're working with.
Ex:
My neighbor sold his house a couple of months back. His initial asking price was reasonable: about 2-3% above normal for the neighborhood, but his house was in superb condition, and he eventually came down a bit on his price.
At one point, he was actually given an offer by a buyer of about 35% less than his asking price! Needless to say, the "negotiations" ended there.
Ex:
When my wife and I initially began looking to buy a small house a couple of years ago, we saw more than a few sellers who were asking for amounts which were at least 30% too high.
As potential buyers, we didn't even take a second look at those houses, even the ones which appealed to us.
I don't understand why people try to negotiate from such extremes... at least for me, if a person asks or offers something reasonable, I'll be much more willing to enter into some negotiations (and possibly come to an agreement) than if they tried to begin with an outrageous amount.
In negotiation parlance, this is called the optimistic opening. In essence, open with a number that is optimistically high BUT rationally defensible.Foil wrote:I don't understand why people try to negotiate from such extremes... at least for me, if a person asks or offers something reasonable, I'll be much more willing to enter into some negotiations (and possibly come to an agreement) than if they tried to begin with an outrageous amount.
I would say 30% above market is optimistically high, but no where near rationally defensible.
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WarAdvocat
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