Fliperati

A little more research into recent sales in the area and houses that are currently on the market revealed that the current ceiling on comparable homes is something like $399,000.  Armed with this information, I was able to plug away at all the other numbers (making what I’m sure will prove to be horribly inaccurate estimates on all sorts of items like a new roof, attorney fees, and shrubs with my total novice skill set) and back into a purchase price that would make me a decent profit on my first project.  Frighteningly, the target purchase price came out at $55,000 below the asking price.  This was a bit of a wakeup call because I was doing some mental math while walking around the property and came up with a potential offer price of only $25,000 below the asking.

My agent urged me to listen to what the numbers said and resist trying to “force” them into working just because I liked the property.  He also told me that the listing agent had called him and urged him to put an offer on the table regardless of its proximity to the asking price.  We speculated that the house had been languishing on the market for so long because the owners simply lost touch with reality and a lack of offers – high or low – had allowed them to continue deluding themselves about the value of the home.  With that theory in mind, we drew up a contract with the offer price at $55,000 below asking and submitted it this afternoon assuming we had nothing to lose other than the time it took to draw up the paperwork.  My agent, who continues to surprise me with his market insight and total professionalism, is optimistic about our chances even at the low offer price, so I can’t help but be a little excited myself.  We’ll see how long it takes them to get back to respond…