think I lost a deal. Any advice?

[Heather Finley]

I have a property lead from a highly motivated seller. The house is owned free and clear (!)...and he said it was appraised a year ago at 440K. We had a decline in housing, maybe 10% in the last year. It's in a rural area, so I had a hard time finding comps...the ones I did find had a broad range. I was estimating that FMV might be 325 - 350 K. He said he wanted to get 300K out of it. Going with 65%, I offered 225K...and told him I would tap into my list of potential buyers to get it sold fast. He wrote back and said he decided to sell it in a FSBO, listed at 375K. He thinks it will sell fast at 300K, and didn't want to take less than 275-280. When I asked him what his bottom line was (before the offer I made), he said 300K.

I didn't have any buyers, and don't have the cash (or desire to borrow) to jump on this deal. A thought I had (form an REI club teleseminar) was to tie up the property in a contract, then do an auction, with people coming to view the house on the final days of the auction.

I asked him if he wanted me to let him know if I found someone who wanted to buy it for 275-300 K, and I haven't heard anything yet.

Any advice or hindsight "would have done differently" suggestions would be most welcome! Thank you.

Heather