John Bendall owner of Re/Max Classic Group offers advice on Creating Quality Marketing Material.

Inventory has continually increased over the last several months and the average time on the market has been growing.  This has given buyers a lot of flexibility.  Buyers have been able to take more time in deciding which home is right for them and when the time comes to make an offer they have been able to negotiate on the asking price.  This can be touchy territory for sellers.  They may have waited months for an offer and they may have already reduced there asking price to what they feel is the bare minimum of what they can sell for.  So how should a buyer go about making a low offer without insulting the seller?

There is no doubt that buyers have the advantage in the current market however, it is still possible to offend sellers and get shut out of a deal entirely. Whether or not a seller is offended by a low offer has a lot to do with their motivation to sell.  Some indicators that can tell you about a seller’s motivation include the amount of time a property has been available and whether or not the property is vacant.  If time on the market or the stress of paying to mortgages is weighing heavily on a seller they may be willing to work with any offer. 

The most effective way to come in with a low offer is to have your offer backed up with accurate statistics.  You want to show that your offer reflects a realistic selling price for the home you are trying to purchase. You need to look at sales of comparable homes, and take a look at what is currently available on the market, and how long it is taking for homes to sell.  The best way to do that is to have a Real Estate professional working on your behalf. 

Including a cover letter along with your offer can be a good way to present your case.  The days of sitting across the table face-to-face with the sellers are over so you need to give them as much information as possible on paper.  If they just see a low number on an offer they are more likely to be offended because they don’t know the motivation behind it.

After all is said and done a buyer who wants to make a low offer on a house has to be willing to lose the property.  If you are really attached to the property and feel that you won’t be able to find anything else quite like it you need to decide how much it would be worth to you to risk losing it.  

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