If You Feel the Need to Make a “Lowball” Offer on a House You Want to Buy, Here Are Some Things to Consider Before You Do

As a buyer, you want to get the best deal on your home, and sometimes offering less than asking price — aka “lowballing” — can help you score that deal.

But there is a right and a wrong way to negotiate a lowball offer, and if you want to get your home at a bargain price, you need to do it the right way.

So what, exactly, does that look like?

A recent article from realtor.com outlined best practices for offering less on a house, including:

• Know the market. Lowball offers tend to be successful when the buyers have the upper hand. So, before you submit a less-than-listing-price offer, it’s important to know whether you do have the upper hand. Talk to your real estate agent about the overall market and the specific house you’re considering buying. Is it a seller’s market with a lot of competition for properties? Is the home newly listed? If so, a lowball offer probably isn’t going to fly. On the flip side, if you’re in a buyer’s market, or if the home has been listed for months, you’ll likely have more room to negotiate on price.
• Be respectful of the sellers. There’s making a low offer… and then there’s making an offer so low that it’s insulting to the sellers. Make sure your offer isn’t so low that it makes the sellers feel disrespected, and try to express your appreciation for the property and how excited you are at the potential of buying it.
• Have your agent reach out to their agent. Before making what the sellers may feel is a lowball offer, have your agent contact the listing agent to find out as much as possible about the sellers — like why they’re selling, and if they’ve turned down any other offers, for example. Those insights can tell you a lot about whether it makes sense to come in with a low offer at all, and can potentially give you a feel for how low you can come in, as well as increase the likelihood of your offer getting accepted.