BiggerPockets

Well, my experience is that you usually want to start an offer at about 70% of the asking, specially if it has been on the market for so long ! This is after you do your homework and know for sure that the asking price is within reasonable levels (I mean make sure the house is not over priced!) Once you know for sure it's priced correctly, then offer 70% of that and wait for a response. And after that…. It's game time … just play a little and you will get to the right number with them. I hope this helps.

Yeah… just offer 70% of asking but don't expect to be accepted at that price right away. I mean, you will have to negotiate and end up probably paying more then 70%, but this will be a good starting point. If the house has other offers coming in… then at that point you have to decide what you want to pay for the property and stop playing games with the bank… but if it's only you making an offer… then you have room to speculate.

I would research what the other REO's are selling for compared to ARV (after repair value) and how long they were on the market. Sounds like it may still be to high, especially if it needs a lot of work. My history with asset managers, tells me they generally don't accept or counter at more than 10% off of current list price, so it may need to drop more to get a better deal.

The low ball offer does have value though - place an offer at 30 to 40% under - it will likely get rejected, but tell the listing broker to get back to you when the seller gets serious - you might get a call sooner than you would expect! Especially if they are getting no other action on that property.

Good Luck!

Didn't end up making an offer at all.. Ended up finding a different house all together that we like and are still negotiating the details on.