turnkey negotiations?

[Stephen M.]

Hi,

This may be a dumb question but I haven't really seen it commented on: are the list price on turnkey properties negotiable when making a offer?  Are there offer/counter offers like in usual home buying? Thanks 

[David Faulkner]

Any seller can (and they often do) ask any price for their property that they want. On the other end, any buyer can (and they often do) offer any price they want. That doesn't mean that the property will sell for either of those prices with or without negotiations. Randomly throwing "stuff" against the wall to see if it sticks is not a very good strategy for either seller or buyer IMO. What is relevant are what have comparable homes sold for. This establishes market price for the property and should be the basis for both the seller's asking price as well as your offer price. If the subject property is a 3/2 turnkey built in 1976, then look for what 3/2 turnkeys built in 1976 within close proximity and size have recently sold for and base your offer on that. If that offer is below what the seller is asking, oh well, that's what the comps are and that's what market price is ... if they won't negotiate, walk away. There may be other special situations where you can reasonably get a property under retail market price, but turnkey, listed property, from a non-motivated seller is not it.