Low balling

Most buyers in Las Vegas are under the impression that sellers will take a hand full of pocket lint and a smile to get out from under their mortgage. While there is quite a bit more room to play and sellers are definitely having to take the short end of the stick at this time, they aren't "giving away the farm". I'm always surprised when a home may already be under value and a buyer offers $20,000 less than the sold comparables for that house, along with closing costs, warranty's, inspections, appraisal and hey by the way could your kid come mow my lawn for life. Obviously its a buyers market and asking for closing costs or a lower sales price are expected. If however you are asking for closing costs and a lower price, keep in mind the closing costs usually come to around 3% of the sales price on the buyers side of a transaction, so if you are looking at a house valued at $300,000, and are asking for closing costs, you are already asking for a $9,000 price reduction. If you then offer $280,000, you have effectively asked the seller to entertain dropping the price roughly $30,000.

Too many times, buyers low ball with an offer that does not have the possibility of being accepted and in some cases won't even be countered...see above....

The best way to make an offer in any type of market...buyers or sellers markets is to first look at the SOLD COMPARABLES. Especially if you have good comps within a 6 month range...this gives you an idea of what a house will appraise for...just offering $20,000 below the asking price without checking comps could still put you in the position of overpaying. Also, if a comparable of a home you are looking at sold for $20,000 above the list price of the subject property, its highly unlikely you will get another $20,000 off. Most likely another buyer will see it is already undervalue and make a good offer that leaves the "low ball" offer in the rejected pile.

There is nothing wrong with taking a shot at a seller right now, but base it on something other than a "hunch".

You want to write an offer that can either be accepted as is, or will at least get some concessions in the counter offer. If you write a ridiculous offer, expect a ridiculous counter offer to come back. Additionally, if the offer is too low or asks too much, the seller may decide you aren't serious and refuse to negotiate with you at all. If they reject your offer outright and you are forced to write a completely new offer, you will lose some of your ability to bargain, because the seller now sees you have an attachment to the house and are unwilling to walk away.

This is definitely a time that favors the buyers, but that doesn't mean that sellers are willing to just bend over and smile.