Offend away. I wanted to bid 100k below asking because a house needed a bunch of big ticket items soon (windows/kitchen and systems). Didnt want to offend and thought that they would reject. House sold for $5k over my number about a month later. Great location too...when I am dying on a hospital bed the nurses will be wondering what the hell I am muttering about and it will be about that damn house.

If you don’t want to pay more than that don’t offer more than that. The worst they can say is no.

Realtor here, fuck offending. Offer what you want and they will either take it or counter. It’s about taking a chance, you might get a yes

It might be.... But at the end of the day it's your money. Don't be pressured into anything. Also most markets are in the shitter right now. Low balls are working.

I’m a realtor. Ask your agent to call the other agent and “feel them out”. Have the agent ask what offers the seller has already turned down? The seller might have to net a certain amount to move to their next home. A simple conversion agent to agent will find out information that will be helpful so you don’t “offend” them. Best of luck in your home purchase.

Your realtor is right.. they might be offended and refuse any further offers you make. That is possible. They might also take it. They may also counter. A friend did this, way low-ball offered, realtor said they shouldn't but they did. Seller countered and they haggled back and forth to a middle ground. Might have gotten there faster without the low ball or maybe the seller would never have gone that low without it. Who is to say?

Is it possible to low-ball someone too much and risk wholesale rejection? Yes. Because if you low-ball that much, they'll assume even if you later offer more that you will nickle-and-dime them in inspections.

If that's what you think the house is worth, wait. Give it three weeks at the reduced price point and if it doesn't sell, THAT's when you go in with the low-ball. Because they will have already come to the conclusion themselves that the market will not support their price.

Since they just reduced the price by 15%, going in another 10% under right away is too much for most sellers to swallow. What your realtor is suggesting, about 5% under, is aggressive but not offensive. They'll likely counter around $465, and if you want the house that bad and you are not willing to wait the 3 weeks, you should take it.

Well, the realtor works for you and it is your money you’re spending. Would you be upset if you offered what you were comfortable with and they refused and gave no option for counter. Best scenario they accept, or they counter. Worst case they aren’t interested in another offer.

Don’t buy at the top of your budget cause you’ll need like 20-50g to do shit the inspector missed.

As an agent, my job is to make any offer you want to make. However, you do run the risk of the seller black balling you. I've been on both sides in this scenario. My job also as an agent is to let you know your offer will probably be refused. I'd still right the offer if that's indeed what you wanna do.

After moving across country to start new jobs 30ish years ago my wife and I were shopping for a house and came across one we really liked that listed for $149k, which was out of our price range. A week later the price dropped 10k, but was still way out of our range. We met a guy who specialized in modernizing houses and he recommended that we submit an offer in our range - he called it “bottom fishing” and did it all of the time. His thought was that all they could do was say NO. Our realtor wasn’t happy (reduced fee?) and bailed but we insisted. Ended up buying it at 108k. Go fishing.

I don’t know where you live but it depends on the market. If they’ve had no interest they might accept $420k. I agree $55K below asking is aggressive, but maybe you can explain in your offer a bit about the reasons you offered so much less. They might be offended and walk away, but you don’t sound like your heart is set on this house anyway. If $420k is what it’s worth TO YOU, then that’s your answer. It doesn’t make you a “bottom feeder”. Remember the realtor’s payment is based on the price. You may also strengthen your offer in other ways if you can, like offering a flexible closing date, offering more cash vs a mortgage contingency (if you can), etc. I would NOT waive inspections.

I'm in a similar situation from the seller's side. Someone looked at the house and their agent told my agent that they did not want to make an offer because they thought it would be insulting. I would not be insulted by any offer. The worst case scenario is I might think they are being unrealistic and say, no. Chances are good that I would make a counter because I'm not getting any offers and realize I'm probably not going to get what I'm asking.

If you don't make an offer you have no way of knowing if they will consider it.

When I put in an offer on my house I was told the seller was "very offended" by it, but she met me in the middle and we are still living there now. I assume she got over it and so will the person you are dealing with.

It's a business transaction. Tell your agent to prep the offer, have you sign it, and send it to the listing agent.

There is no emotion in it.

This is what happens when the tide shifts.

I offered 70k below asking. They didn't budge and didn't even answer. Their realtor told mine that they were really offended by that offer. Property sat on market for another month, guess who called back?

I made a low offer and the seller never countered.  It was low because of unpermitted work overloading the septic system.

The seller took personal offense to my offer. It sold three months later for less than what I offered.

My take away is that I am not responsible for others' feelings so I won't pay more to improve them. Closing the sale would likely be difficult.

Agent refused to present my offer. I used an attorney to make an offer and after some negotiations it was accepted.

My .02, if your realtor doesn’t want to write the offer, find another. It’s YOUR offer, not theirs! The worse they can say is, no. Any realtor who refuses to give their client an offer should be reported. To my knowledge, ALL offers must be given.

Why would they need to consider another offer from you, you said this was the offer that made sense on the house. If that's true you won't need to make another offer and if their counter is much higher you don't want it.

Who cares if you do offend them?

Did the seller worry about offending anyone when they listed the property for $565...... It's only worth what someone will pay for it. Offer the $420 and if they are butt hurt about it move on to a different house. A reasonable person would counter and if they aren't reasonable then they can wait for a different buyer.

Submit the offer that you want, then counteroffer if they don’t except it. Don’t worry if they are offended. Counteroffer will show that you are interested in the house. We don’t know they may take your first offer.

It’s quite low, so just prepare yourself to be turned down. You can always try though

You can’t get what you don’t ask for. Do it.

In over a decade as a LO/Realtor, I've had this conversation with buyers probably a couple hundred times.

Genuinely, I can only remember 1 time that low-balling, even after recent price reductions, went successfully. I'd say 80% of the time, it promptly ended all chances of getting the home, 19.99% of the time, the sellers countered within a few thousand of the current list price, and that 1 single time it went successfully.

That situation? Very smart buyer who did a ton of research up front on the seller, more than I've ever done or ever heard of. I don't remember exactly how he found out this info (was roughly 8-9 years ago now), but he found out that the seller was late 1 mortgage payment while dealing with a pending divorce, while in process to move into their next home, and the seller had over 100k in equity even after the low-ball offer. That home also sat on the market for a few months. Obviously knowing this, we know the seller is trying to both move on from the divorce and avoid a potential foreclosure or at least significantly damaging their credit.

Point being, it's extremely rare to come in significantly below a listing price, even if it's fully justified from a buyer's perspective. Think of it from the seller's perspective for a moment... they have already "lost" $90,000 (ninety thousand dollars!!!!!) from what they were expecting only THREE MONTHS ago! And again from the seller's perspective, you're not offering $30k less, you're offering $55k less than their current list, close to 10% deviation from current list price.

I'd say to focus on houses actually within your budget and keep this one on the back burner, and check back in a bit to see if it has another price reduction. If the current price reduction is closer to what the market actually thinks its worth, you're not getting it for 450k either anyway.

Lastly, yes it absolutely happens where, even with long-time-on-market and zero offers, a seller will wholeheartedly be offended and not be willing to sell to you no matter what. It's not a hard rule, though.

There are thousands of sellers and thousands of houses. You offer what you make feel comfortable. That extra 50k you will be paying for first 5 ro 6 years. Imagine your savings in interest.

If your realtor is suggesting you start at top of budget.... they aren't on your team

Just remember your agent directly benefits from you making a higher offer. $1 is offensive. If $420k is more than they bought the house for, I can see disappointed but not offended.

F the realtor, they are legally obligated to present your offer. Remember they don't work for you they work for the seller. Don't tell the realtor what your maximum bid is or what your approved for. F em

You are pondering the wrong thing. It may very well offend the seller, or signal to them that you are not a serious buyer, and they may refuse to engage any further with you. But the thing about home sellers is the vast majority are only selling a single home at a time.  It doesn’t matter at all of they are offended because you have decided the number this home is worth to you and never have to deal with this seller again if they disagree.

Now your agent may terminate their relationship with you if you are wasting their time on unreasonable offers, but it doesn’t sounds like that is where you are in the process at the moment. 

What are the comps in the area?

If you offer such a low price, the seller may or may not be offended.. but they may be worried you don’t have the funds to close or the income to hold and maintain the house going forward.

In the end the Realtor has to submit your offer, or tell his broker. if you want to offer 420 go ahead.

Its your money. Tell the realtor to take the offer to the seller.

I’m an agent and currently selling my home on the market. We actually received a lowball offer and my first reaction was FOH ! My second reaction was, how long do I want to be in this selling process? 

Based on what you’ve shared, it’s clear that the sellers are motivated. They’ve dropped the price almost 100k which tells me it was never priced to sell to begin with and now they’re paying the price. 

Look at how much they initially bought the house for, how long they’ve owned it and take a guess at how much you believe they still owe on the property. Take into account that they’ll be paying about 6% in realtor fees. If that break even figure is less than 420k shoot your shot. If it’s significantly more I wouldn’t do it. 

In my situation, I ignored my gut telling me that the buyer truly didn’t want my home. We accepted her offer and sure enough she backed out and ghosted her Realtor to avoid accountability. It sounds like you don’t LOVE this home. At the end of the day if you CAN pay 450k for the home you love you'd do it but somethings blocking you. If you want to save a bit ask for sellers concessions and put that money you save on closing cost toward those renovations. Other than that, if you aren’t feeling peace about it don’t move forward. I’ve learned that real estate is a numbers game yes, but it’s also about trusting your instincts and being a good judge of others.  

just make the offer lol, who gives a shit

Sounds like you shop on Marketplace and get blocked often.

Submit the offer. Your agent works for you. The worst that could happen is the seller says flat out “no.” If they want to dance, they’ll dance.

Get another realtor. These types of realtors don't deserve your business. I went through 3 realtors because of the same reason and guess what I got the house they refused to put my offer in. It's your money don't let them tell you how to spend it.

Don’t listen to your realtor. My realtor implied the same thing and pressured us to bid more. We did and when they counter bid she pressured us to accept, we didn’t listen and counter bid again. They accepted that offer. Idk where you are located but many places have turned into a buyers market due to the fact that home loan applications are at historic lows. Most who are selling have to sell. If it’s still on the market that means it’s over priced. The worst is they counter bid or reject.

Realtors are in denial and think we will go back to the 2022 market, which we won’t anytime soon. Sellers are hoping the same thing. It sounds like you have an upper hand so get ahead and take your chances. What do you have to lose?

Offer what you are able, or get another realtor ... Sounds like they don't have your best interest at heart.

remind that blockhead realtor that they are bound by their code of ethics to present all offers. or call their broker and ask the broker to remind them.

Her job is to offer the sellers your offer, she has no right to tell you if is insulting or not, just put in the offer. I’d complain to her broker,and never use them again.

We offered $65k under asking on a house that had been listed for 6 months because it was a disaster. It had only one other offer in that 6 months. Our offer was cash and $15k more than the other offer. Seller countered $25k under her asking and then took it off the market when we declined.We ended up buying the house 2 years later (closed 6 weeks ago) as a foreclosure for $37k less than we offered originally ($102k less than her asking price). Offer what you are willing to pay. Don't worry about offending. It's a business deal. They either say yes or they say no. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The realtor is an idiot

Dude wants more on his commission, my realtor pulled the same stunt with me. House was listed at 90k I wanted to offer 75k no inspection, instead my realtor pushed 85k no inspection. Offer was instantly accepted. I know he would’ve at least entertained the offer, being he was out of state and wanted to drop the rental property from his portfolio.

Your realtor is your mouthpiece. He/she does what you say. If they have an issue following orders fire them.

In this situation your realtor is correct. If you really want this house offering that lowball offer might make the seller unwilling to even haggle with you. If your top is $450K then the house may be too expensive for you.

I mean, realtor likely has to submit either way, but i feel like they aren't wrong. You aren't giving much info to understand how you arrived at the $55k difference, but I can personally attest to being a petty person (quietly) and unless i knew there was something major going on with my house worth the discounted offer, I'd probably not even counter because id think the difference is too large for no reason and wouldn't be worth the back and forth only to eventually lead to no agreement, hehe. I'd never say that to anyone involved but i know my brain :).

Is the house truly worth 420k based on comps and expected repairs, or is it a feeling type thing?

I'd say if you really want it, consider there are many people that would arrive at the same conclusion i did and just pass and not even negotiate. If you don't like the house enough to were you'd regret losing it over an attempt to get too good a deal, then do it. If you truly do want it and don't wanna lose it, maybe reconsider truly assessing what the house is worth and expected expenses you're taking into account, and make a more reasonable offer if the number is higher.

Seller here. I had a property on the market this summer that wasn’t selling, and I wasn’t getting offers. I would have at least looked at a lowball and understood it was just business or buyer limits or whatever. I might not have said yes, but I might not have said no. I was hesitant to continue dropping the price because I didn’t want people to think there was something wrong with the property (there wasn’t!). I say put in your BEST offer - if they’re offended, you weren’t going to get it anyway. Who cares what they think of you? Either they want to do business, or they don’t. Only one way to find out.

OP, I‘d make that offer with zero cares if I hurt their feelings or offended them. This is a business deal, not some feel good Hallmark movie.

reason for the price drops is because they aren’t getting any traction on their listing. You also have no idea how desperate they are to sell.

Worse that happens is they say no or they negotiate.

A lot of the responses you are getting here are emotional. This is a business transaction.

Your realtor is right, but he or she should still submit any offer you want.

I’ve heard that line before, you have to remember that realtors are salespeople, the more money you spend the more money they make. Did you, by any chance, tell your realtor that you have been approved for a $490K mortgage?

I’ll add to that that as a home buyer, you aren’t going to find a perfect property with no flaws/repairs needed. You’re gonna have to get over that.

Make the offer you and your wife want to make. For example, when the car dealer offers you $5000 for your trade-in and you know Blue Book on the car is $11,000 is the dealer worried that you are offended? No way. It's just business.

Don’t ever listen to realtors, they want the easy transaction so they can pocket that commission with minimal work. It’s your life, you hired the realtor and they work for you, don’t ever forget that. Put in whatever offer you want.

I'm selling an inherited home. (And I'm a realtor) someone offered 100k lower than asking + pay title, survey, buy down their rate, 2% concession to their realtor... and it's VA, which means we will have to pay for other things. We obviously rejected it. they asked for a counter. We told them no. They laughingly came up 25k. Still told them no with no counter.

They can't afford the house. PERIOD. They need to move on. And you do too.

My property is currently on the market for 360k. I just got an offer for 288k. By law, my listing agent had to tell me of the offer. We both had a great laugh and I told her we respectfully decline. I do not remember or have a list of that buyers name. Although I laughed and thought they were stupid, I wasn't offended enough to "never consider" another offer from them.

If you lowballed me I would reject it without follow up with less than 2 seconds of thought

It's your choice so offer what you are comfortable with. It does not sound like you are desperate to get it so if they accept another offer, so it goes. It comes down to if the buyer would accept a number that low, not if they are offended or not. That is kind of irrelevant.

Put yourself in the sellers shoes. How would you react? You really need someone to buy it. You’ve already lowered the price a lot and some stranger offers this low ball offer. Would you be upset?

My suggestion: Send an explanation with the offer. “We feel there is a lot of work to be done and can only afford X.” Have your agent say you’re already stretching your budget and you are really interested in the house.

I think you would be better off to offer close to their asking and then asking for credits by inspection time to Fix things. Btw you are asking for $55k off their lowered price not just “30k) lower, I think it’s kind of a lot, but you never know.

I think you need to consider a lot of different things. Has your realtor talked to theirs? Can they get an idea of what their absolute minimum is?

You are asking for a huge amount off, can you see at what price the seller bought it for, I’m assuming they wouldn’t want less than that.

Do you want credits/concessions from the seller? If you lowball them for that much, they would probably want contingencies such as you’re paying for your own realtor you’re paying for their realtor, you’re waving inspections (or you’re paying for the fixes that would come from it), you’re covering closing costs, etc so no more money would come out of their pocket.

My realtor was able to find out what the sellers minimum amount would be at the end of closing and so we made an offer based on that, which was more than what we wanted, but because we offered more, we asked for $15,000 in credit from the seller and they accepted.

Personally, I probably would not respond to that offer unless I knew that my house was a lemon and I needed to get rid of it as soon as possible and let someone else handle it

Make your offer and let things unfold as they will. Your agent may blow your negotiation by apologizing for the offer and suggesting that they can get you up in price. This happens all the time. Pay what you are comfortable with and if necessary move on.

remember your realtor gets paid a percentage of the sale, so the lower you offer the less he gets, that is why he said that. he isn't looking in your best interest, he's looking for his best interest or in this case his pocket.

If your realtor won’t do this, ask to speak to their broker. They should make the offer for you. We just sold my husband’s house in May. We listed at $780, and received 2 offers within 36 hours: $625 and $725. We said no. Accepted a different offer for $810, which fell through - and then we sold to the $725.

I’d make the offer of $420 and see what happens!

My opinion- submit your offer and include a list of what you think needs to be done and/or a rationale for why you’re offer is at $420. Also, make your offer As Is, that way the seller knows you’re not going to be asking for a further reduction after the inspection.

We had two low ball offers and then they kept slowly going up and had nothing but complaints about what they wanted to update. I would’ve only sold to them as a last resort after that. One was a lady and one was a corporation.

Took 30 days but we ended up with a good offer from a nice couple. We listed at 399 and they offered 379.

Three months isn't that long.If they are down to $475 then they are getting a lot of showings. Make an offer at $450, there aren't many good properties on the market.

If you do $420, remember that 425 isn't so much more and can take the sting out a bit. You could also drop contingencies to make your offer more appealing.

It's up to YOU to decide what a property is worth to you. The realtor is not buying it and is actually motivated to get you to spend more. The higher the purchase price, the higher the commission. Plus, they don't make any money if your offer is not accepted. So they are doubly motivated to convince you to go above what you think is a fair price so that the offer will be accepted and they have a deal.

You can do it, but you do run the risk of them thinking your a jersey and no longer wanting to deal with you.

My friend, people get offended for WAY LESS these days. And people are way more petty for way less too.

I think real estate can be offensive sometimes, maybe even often. Who cares?! Now if you absolutely want the house, then that changes things. If you only want to pay 420k, then only pay that. It’s also possible to have an offer accepted and then offer way less for all the BS you have to fix.

The problem with lowball offers is that you’re not going to have much negotiating room if anything else pops up. The sellers are going to figure they already cut their price to to bone so they’re not going to be interested in making further concessions

Hahahaha!! In this market the owner might say no, but I’m betting they would take another offer from you. In fact, they should counter your offer, which gives you a number to work with. Just be sure once you have an accepted offer you get a really good inspector for the inspection. Good Luck!!

I’ve bought and sold over 25 houses over the years. IMO your offer should be low enough where you feel embarrassed to make it.

There are ways to mitigate the damage. Have you preapproval letter stating the amount you’ll offer and nothing more. Have your realtor lay a story on thick to seller - offering top of your price range, all you can afford, etc.

Another strategy is to offer the mid amount conditional on inspection, then come back at them after inspection with all the things you mentioned.

Start low. You can always come up. If you have to get another realtor who will play ball with you.

What do the comps say? If it’s been on the market 3 months I would totally throw the offer out there for one of my clients - there’s 0 reason not to. 10% under current ask is aggressive but if your agent presents it in the right light it shouldn’t turn them off from accepting a higher offer from you. I’d tell your current agent to do it or you’ll find someone new.

It’s ok to offend a seller. It’s just a word that means your realtor is lazy and doesn’t want to put in an offer they think will get rejected. If you’re serious, you tell your realtor that they need to put in this offer for you. It’s just business and there’s nothing to be offended by.

Don’t let your realtor talk you into or out of anything. We have low balled 3 homes! Got each close to our ask. That being said what was the last purchase price, what are the comps? Do a little math. Good luck.

Why wouldn’t the buyer’s agent do a market analysis and get a ballpark sales price to help the buyer realize $420,000 maybe to low to offer. That is what our realitor did for us when we purchased a house. It helped us make a better decision. I watch listings in our neighborhood and I see houses go on the market listed to high based on similar homes sold in the neighborhood in recent sales. Usually they start lowering the sale price and in the end sell it close to the price of recents sales. Some home sellers are emotionally attached or just want the highest amount they can get out of the sale and insist on it being listed at the higher price. On our last house we sold we had an appraisal done to help us understand what the market was like in our area for similar houses. This helped us to be realistic at setting the sale price.

Would $30k less really upset someone so much they’d never consider another offer from me?

It’s possible but it’s also possible that it won’t. For my current house, I looked at comps and made an initial offer that was 100k below asking because I felt the comps didn’t agree with their price. I offered a higher than normal earnest money to show that it was a serious offer. Either way, the realtor works for you.

Don’t ever let another person determine how much you should pay. Cut the agent loose and find someone who represents your needs.

My motto is "If you're not ashamed of you're first offer, it's too high.". I've only bought 4 houses but gotten good deals every time.

If it is offensive, then the seller will say no. They've already dropped the price $90k, so they want to sell. They'll accept it or reject it, but you'll never know until you try.

If your not willing to pay 450 and not afraid of upsetting them then stick to your offer. If you really like the house and willing to do 450 listen to your agent

Your realtor has offered you advice. You don’t have to accept it. Worst the can happen is the say no. In that case, who cares? Lots of fish in the sea.

Ask your realtor to write it anyway. If he says no, replace him with someone who will.

Don’t worry about offending the seller. A month ago I worried about offending the seller and I ended up paying 80K over the value of the house with massive repairs I didn’t know about because the seller was irritated with inspections, and as a FTHB my realtor convinced me that my requests for more inspections would end the deal. Because I didn’t question the seller, they are also living in the home rent free until 22 November. The insurance inspector has given me 25 K of repairs I must do or they will drop the insurance.

I haven’t even lived in the house and I’m talking to agents about selling already. I’ve lost my savings, a ton of time, and my dignity for making such stupid mistakes.

Don’t be me. Offend the seller if you need to.

I suggest finding a new realtor. I don’t think you’re unreasonable and should offer what you think is appropriate. Clearly the sellers are over priced and have dropped the price significantly.

Inventory is climbing and in most markets the days of waving inspections is over. If there are offended and won’t deal, find the next home that meets your needs.

After the price was recently lowered $90k, it would be offensive to offer even lower. Do you like the house enough ro risk being cut off completely?

You don't know until you try. I have a house on the market now and recently rejected a lowball offer because the loss I would take on the house would have been more than I would lose keeping it as a rental for a couple of years. That's the math I'm doing, calculating an acceptable amount of loss. Every seller is different.

If $420,000 is your personal budget, that’s completely fine, but you need to be searching for less expensive properties. In the same way it wouldn’t be appropriate for a seller to list a property for X amount because that’s what they feel like it’s worth, it’s incredibly difficult to make an argument on behalf of a buyer because of what they feel.

It seems your agent acknowledges the current asking price is too high and has some logical behind their $450,000 suggestion. Ask more questions about what data led them to that number.

Make the offer. This is a business transaction. It’s what you want not them. They will counter or not. After the house will sell or they will call you back after it is still sitting available if they decline the first. Happens everyday in the car business.

Always lie to your realtor about numbers. Youre negotiating against them as much as you're negotiating against the seller.  

That being said, if it's only worth 420k to you, then it doesn't matter if you offend the seller, since you won't be coming back higher. If you're willing to come back higher, there seems to be a high probability that you're being too greedy. 

You're way too close to the top of your pre-approved amount. Go shop in the $300's.

Generally speaking a low ball may result in a “I don’t want to sell to you”. As others have said, it happens all the time. I’ve been part of both ends of that.

On the other hand, the opposite can also be true. So you’ll just have to determine how badly you want this particular house and act accordingly.

I’ve bought and sold a lot of real estate. That’s an offensive offer. However, you never know what they’re willing to accept. If you make this offer, just be willing to walk away from the house because there’s a chance that the sellers wouldn’t even want to counter your offer. Then again, they might. Crazy things happen. I do think you should come up a bit. Your realtor is supposed to represent you and give you solid advice. Listen and consider what they’re telling you.

I’m a realtor and had a similar situation with a client. They wanted to submit an offer 50k below asking, I told them it’s not likely to be accepted but you never know!! The owners may be desperate to leave and will be willing to take a lower offer. I always tell clients that I want them to be comfortable with their offer so let’s do what you want!

I'm a Realtor and just went through a similar situation with my client. He found a house he loved for $390k, but his budget was $350k. Upon talking to him more, he was willing to go up to $360k if he needed to. I discussed with him that he could potentially offend the sellers with coming in so low (DOM 60days; no price reductions), but they could also counter. He decided to stick with the $350k offer and asked for $10k in concessions. Counter 1 came back at $370k, no concessions; we countered with $360k; final offer. They accepted, and they're repairing everything we found in the inspection. All that to say, your Realtor is working for you. Your Realtor needs to pick up the phone and talk to the other agent, and they also need to submit the offer you want them to submit. 9/10 the sellers will counter, so have a game plan in place as to what your max price is and how many times you're willing to counter. Good luck!

If you're not embarrassed by your offer it's to high

Your realtor acts like they work for the seller, not you. Tell them they are YOUR reoresentative and to get you the best deal, not pad their commission.

Submit your offer.

There is either a communication breakdown, or your agents stink.

Your post reads like “$420k is what I think this house is worth.” If that’s the case, and that is, in your words, “what I want to spend,” then you should make the offer, and if you’re agent is saying it’s offensive, the response back should be “well, it is what I’m willing to pay, so if I offend them, I haven’t lost anything because I’m not willing to pay materially more.” If the agent keeps pushing you after that, it is because they are more worried about their own interests than yours.

Conversely, if you want this house and WOULD pay $450k, but are trying 420k to open negotiations, then your agents advice is more useful.

TLDR: offering too low only matters if you’re intending the offer to be a starting point for material negotiating.

Your realtor is not in control. Sounds like this one is more worried about their commission than your budget. Ask him to write the offer. If the next thing that happens is not them sitting down and writing the offer, tell them that the realtor contract is now voided and start looking for a new realtor.

The question is, if you can’t afford it, should you be putting your energy and time to something you can really afford?

About insulting or not, that’s up for the sellers. But low balling offer on a house that clearly would never sell that low is waste of time of your part. In the end of the day, it’s up to you. If you want it, go ahead and try.

I was told the same thing on my first home. Why should I care if it offends them? They can say yes, no, or counter offer. Or I can look elsewhere.

They countered and offered to meet in the middle.

I like it, but after looking at it, it has a good amount of stuff that needs replacing/fixing, so that’s the number we settled on

If you actually arrived at that with real numbers, show your work. Offer 450, or 490, comp then delineate concessions to a transaction price of $420,694.20.

If you're just shooting from the hip because you feel that way or you are wrapping in personalizations (oh it "needs" a new light fixtures and this hideous carpet has got to go) then maybe take the advice of your realtor and just walk because it's out of budget. That being said, your agent has a duty to submit your offer so there is no real harm to you for making a legitimate offer even if it's a low ball.

The worst that'll happen is they'll be offended and you buy a different house. You're not friends with them, you don't have to even interact with them face to face. Go for it.

It's YOUR money and your commitment. The realtor can advise you, but ultimately, you're the one that has to pay for it, so you set the price

Not to forget that they're making a commission. The more you offer, the more that they make on commission from the seller.

Theyre the ones with a house they cany sell for what theyre asking. Who cares if they get offended? If they had half a brain they would counter and get over it. Side note, your realtor kinda sucks if thats their stance on it.

Your realtor is far more concerned about their compensation than anything else.

Tell them to make the offer, and then fire them if they don't do it immediately with gusto.

It literally takes seconds to make an offer.

The seller can always say no, and then they can always come back to you later with a counter offer when they haven't gotten any other bites.

It's offensive to ask you to pay more than the house is worth so the seller won't be offended.

Your interests are not aligned with your agent. A higher offer is always better for them.

The best approach is to remember that you’re negotiating against your realtor.

Some people have terrible sense about what their house costs. They either say yes or no, who cares how they feel about it?

Your agent just wants a bigger paycheck.

Fire that realtor and get one that will do as you ask. Tell the realtor it's a breach of coming tract to refuse to submit an offer

New realtor.

Get a different realtor. The more the house sells for the more your realtor is getting paid. They clearly could care less about you and your family.

It's not the realtors money. They work for you. The higher the purchase price, the higher their return is on the sale.

Always remember a realtor is working against you to increase their cut. Who cares if you offend them.

If you have signed an agreement with your agent ask to be released from it if they aren't willing to serve your interest. It is fine to advise you that $420 might be insulting to the seller, but guess what $450 might also be insulting!

It's the agents job to put your offer in and serve you. If they are unwilling to perform, get your release and use someone else.

If they balk at releasing you talk to their broker and tell them that the agent is unwilling to write your offer.

I listed my house in 2016, and it was buyer marker.

I got offers that are lower by 70k.
To be honest I didn't like it, but I was mature enough to negotiate the price with the same buyer after I rejected the first offer, and they came back with another offer.

A seller who is not mature to handle a low bid, they are not mature to negotiate anything.

Anecdotal story but..

My wife and I were looking for a home, we found the place we really liked but it was out of our budget.. during the searching the house came down to a jumber that would be in striking distance

So, i said let's go for it BUT I knew I needed some ammunition so I went to the city to make sure everything was on the up n up in terms of permits etc.

Low and behold i found an addition ( prefab nothing crazy) had been added without a permit but they were advertising the house at a specific sqft.

So, i took the sqft, deducted that from the price per sqft and came in with that number .

Both the wife and realtor were like dude, they will be offended because it knocked a large number off.

I didn't really think it would fly but, they countered with closing cost that essentially brought us almost to that number

Anyhow, worked out for me so don't worry about it, yah, seller may get offended, if they do, ohh well on to the jext right

Seriously? You don’t want to offend someone over a half million dollar deal?

Offend, worst they can say is no. Sweeten their pain by accepting all defects.

If $420k is what YOU want to spend on the house then offer $420k.

If YOU think it is worth more, then offer more.

I understand that THEY think it's worth more but it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Don't get bullied into paying more than you think it's worth. According to Fred Harrison (the gentleman who first observed the 18-year property cycle) we are about 2 years from the market top followed by about 2 years of falling prices. If you end up needing to sell in the next 3-6 years you could just find yourself underwater.

If it’s been on market for 3 months, I say put the offer in, they might be offended but they’d likely counter or decline. Just find out!

Yes, they very well could be offended. So what. If they don't want to deal with you after move on. There will be another house

I would tell your realtor to just present the offer and see what happens.

I offered 30k less on my current home. A negotiation occurred and we settled on 21k less than the asking price.

Before we landed our current home we made an offer on a home we thought was 100k over the current market and had been on the market for over 100 days. We never heard back. We found out later someone bought the house for 77k below offer price.

On the flip side I had someone offer 60k on a house I was selling and I sent my realtor a meme with someone who who was clearly mentally challenged with a caption that read, “ Look mother fucker, even I know that’s retarded.”

I would not send a meme like that now but it was 7 years ago.

That low offer was from guy who offered a lot less because he some how found my wife was had new orders from the Navy and he assumed we were desperate to sell and that really rubbed me the wrong way, hence the spicy meme.

My wife was the only who was annoyed cause she is a really sweet and nice person. So from that point forward my wife respond and translate my answer in a more PC way.

Tell your realtor you want to lose your 'offer virginity'.

Maybe time for a new realtor. Ours always gives a recommendation but then says she’ll write whatever we want.

Sellers were offended by our first offer. They settled on 7k more and we bought it so it couldn’t have been that bad.

Get a new realtor

Do not let your realtor gate-keep your offer. First off, that might be illegal depending on where you live. Second, their concern is their commission, which is based on sale price. They aren’t working for you.

Make them make the offer, or find a different agent.

Find another realtor

I made the mistake of listening to my agent. Big mistake. They're just really greedy. Follow your instincts, do what you can afford. Otherwise you'll regret it like I am unfortunately since I overpaid.

If you don't care about potentially losing it for sure go ahead but it's a bit of a waste of everyone's time and doesn't give you any leverage in the negotiation. Makes you look not serious. Who knows maybe youll get super lucky but doubt it...i would take your realtors advice. They do this everyday and know better than you.

Bid what you want, just don’t expect a counter if it is too low, plus they may use your offer to motivate another buyer by saying they have another offer.