Seller will not accept full price offer before they do open house

Seller will not accept full price offer before they do open house

Lindenhurst, NY · Member since 2015 · 5 posts · 0 votes

Hello everyone!!

This is my first post on BP! I am following this grate community for few years, but never had enough courage to make first step. 

I did yesterday.

And hit wall today.

If anyone has suggestions what to do I will appreciate!! 

So far story goes like this:

I am looking for house, that I could live in for 5-10 years, before moving forward (first time home buyer), and found very interesting house for sale in Oakdale, NY. My goal was to buy house for total rehab, and put 203k loan to work on that. This one caught my attention because all listings had only one picture of that house, and lack of description ("This is a 4 bedroom, 2.0 bathroom, single family home. It is located in Oakdale, NY") and no description what is inside and outside, few months on market and no interest from potential buyers. I set up visit with my agent. Later I learned to be one of first visitors. House turned to be in very good condition, and owner was working himself to fix it and make it very nice. I found only few little points to improve property: changing hardwood floor in three rooms (existing is in very good condition, however I have few hundred sq-ft of beautiful walnut hardwood flooring from friend :) and this will add to character of the house, adding driveway for garage on back (there is driveway for 4 cars on front), enlarging master bedroom closet, and adding doors for outside from laundry room. We decided to submit offer little below asking price (5k less). Today sale agent contact my agent and stated that: we are only offer so far, owners liked us, and they would like to sell it to us, however they were looking for full price. Property is worth it, but they would not not accept offer anyway. Seller agent idea is to have open house in two weeks, and then decide who will be a buyer. Additionally as per my conversation with owner, they had photographer taking pictures of house yesterday (same day when we saw it for second time).

This is all new for my, but my agent said, that she never had any situation like that.

Bottom line is that even if I send offer for full price now, they will not consider it until after open house in two weeks. 

If you have any suggestions, please let me know about it.

Thanks

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  • Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    The seller can do whatever they want. Your only strategy at this point is to offer full price and let them know the offer expires in a couple of days and you're not going to wait until the open house. At least then you're putting their feet to the fire to make a decision. That doesn't mean they have to take it though, and they may still wait until the open house.

  • Scott WolfPro Member
    Lender · Boca Raton, FL · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 958 votes
    9y

    @Ireneusz Slonina I would stand firm where you are, as you are only negotiating against yourself at this point.  If you give them full price offer, they won't accept anyway until after the open house, so you have nothing to gain.  Also, if they do get a full price offer at the open house it will start a bidding war anyway, and you will need to make a determination of what you think your highest price is for the home.

    I would take the two weeks until the open house and continue to look for other properties, as you may find something else you want to purchase. 

    Another, more aggressive tactic you can take is putting a time frame on your offer, for example, have your realtor put in your offer at your current price (or full ask if you prefer), but have the offer expire after 48 hours.  You may want to discuss with your realtor first, to see what their thoughts are, but sometimes this lights a fire under the seller to make a decision,

    Best of luck!

  • Rental Property Investor · Boston, Massachusetts (MA) · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    The Boston market has been hot enough lately this is actually a common scenario, as the sellers are setting the price and letting desperate buyers bid them up. Sometimes the price is on the lowish (ha!) side to generate interest.

    You do have one other option available, the most aggressive, which is to offer an amount over asking but on the condition they cancel the open house. We did this on one, I think 10% over asking and the value went up by over 100K in a year. It put the onus back on the seller as they start thinking "well, how much better are we really going to do?." Especially if you are actually prepared to walk away. We did great with it in an area and time of rapid appreciation. 

    Price and value not quite the same thing. Are we talking 5-10% difference on a 200K house or an 800K house?

    You certainly want to be sure of your ground if you go this route, but it could actually be cheaper for you in the long run. I'm not sure this house rises to that standard from your description but again, its an option. 

  • Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    They could set a highest and best offer by XXX date,, 

    Either decide to submit a above ask now.. with time limit or keep looking. they weren't interested enough to take your first offer and 5 K difference wasn't a huge insult,, I'd present $2500 to 4 grand over ask and see what they do. You could do no contingency, fast close.. what's your financing like.. can you put down decent escrow...

  • Lindenhurst, NY · Member since 2015 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    Thank you all for help!!

    You are awesome!!

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Montgomery, NY · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    Did you get the house? It has been 7 months.

  • Lindenhurst, NY · Member since 2015 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    9y
    No. Selling agent was playing games with us, and we moved away. From what I know this house was recently.
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