Comments on: How to Make an Offer on a Home

on 1/26/2007 This advice leaves out just one teeny, tiny, little item: Determining your offer price. There's a lot of stuff about determining how much you can afford, getting a prequal letter, even the length of escrow. All well and good. But the topic is "How to Make an Offer on a Home." In addition to knowing how much YOU can spend, you've got to determine what the house is WORTH. And that means asking your agent for comps, and doing some research on your own. Oh, and it has nothing to do with the tax assessment and it has nothing to do with any formula that says, "Offer x% below the asking price." Its value depends on market conditions for similar nearby homes.

Once you've established the value, then you have some basis on which to make an offer. If the house is on the market for $400,000, and you determine that its real value is $450,000, then there's no problem making a full-price offer. If that same house has a value of $380,000, then you might want to offer less than the $400,000...maybe even less than $380,000. And that partly depends on how motivated the seller is. Ask the agent (if the seller has one...if not, ask the seller directly) why they're selling. That'll give you some indication of motivation. And the more motivated the seller, the less they're likely to take.

on 11/22/2005 Real estate market conditions vary in different areas of the country and at different times of the year. You might need to act quickly or, in some cases, you can take your time. Knowledge is power, so do your homework!