Private party house sale asking price

[tarheels]

I'm graduating in May and we're selling.  A couple neighbors know we're selling and have friends who want to move into the neighborhood and have asked us to talk to them first to see if we can work out a private party deal.

We want 130 for the house and feel like it's a fair price for the house supported by comps.  We're unsure of how to tell this to the interested parties.  If we tell them, "We want 130," we're worried they'll take that as an open invitation to start negotiating.  It's not - that's the price.  If we listed with a realtor, we can list for 137-ish which will still net us 130.  If we say, "We can list with a realtor for 137, so we're asking 130 for a private party price," I think that sort of gets the idea across, but maybe they'll still think it's open for discussion.  So do we go high and include room for negotiation?  UUUUGGGHHH.  We hate negotiating as the sellers - buyers are so damn aggressive.

We're so serious about wanting a painless sales experience that we're intentionally avoiding one cash buyer/neighbor friend bc he's a JERK in business deals.  Nice guy socially, but a shark in business, and I HATE that.  I don't care if I could sell you my house tomorrow and be done with it, I don't want to do business with you.  We're really hoping to make this as painless as possible, so how do we set the tone in our opening offer to the parties we DO want to deal with?

[sjh722]

If you would list at $137,000 and that's what the comps show, tell them the asking price is $137,000. Then the ball is in their court to make the next move.

If they come back and say, "Well, you're not using an agent, so will you take x?", then you have room to come down.

Whether or not there's commission involved is really irrelevant to the price of the house.

[kaylie]

I might tell them you were planning to list for $137 but would consider a private deal at $133 (hey, why should they get all the upside of not going through a realtor?). If someone said that to me I would perceive it as being firm and if they try to talk you down you can come back with "that's not a price we would consider."

[sjh722]

Also, I would tell them the $137,000 especially if you're unsure about their financial situation. Are they going to need a closing cost credit? Most people ask for at least $2500 going up to 3% of the purchase price here. If they need $3K or $4K back for closing costs, work it into the $137,000 - 3% up front rather than telling them $130,000 then needing to "raise" the price to $133,000 or $134,000 to cover the difference. Same difference at the end, but if they feel nickel-and-dimed in scenario #2 then sometimes it gets testy as little things keep coming up (a $50 appraisal re-inspect here, a $75 pest inspection there, etc etc etc.)

You can FB me if you have specific questions. :-)

[tarheels]

Mar 4, 2013 18:05:10 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

If you would list at $137,000 and that's what the comps show, tell them the asking price is $137,000. Then the ball is in their court to make the next move.

If they come back and say, "Well, you're not using an agent, so will you take x?", then you have room to come down.

Whether or not there's commission involved is really irrelevant to the price of the house.

Your answer's kinda thrown me.  The comps support 130 as a take-it-to-the-courthouse final sales price.  137 would be your standard inflated listing price with negotiating room and what our agent friend threw out as a starting point.  Regardless of whether there's an agent involved, the house wouldn't appraise for 137.  Do you not list for more than what you want where you are?  I'm really confused bc here it's plainly known on both sides that, absent information to the contrary (distress sale, etc), the listing price is just a BS number thrown out to allow for commission and negotiating room. *-)

[tarheels]

Mar 4, 2013 18:09:34 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Also, I would tell them the $137,000 especially if you're unsure about their financial situation. Are they going to need a closing cost credit? Most people ask for at least $2500 going up to 3% of the purchase price here. If they need $3K or $4K back for closing costs, work it into the $137,000 - 3% up front rather than telling them $130,000 then needing to "raise" the price to $133,000 or $134,000 to cover the difference. Same difference at the end, but if they feel nickel-and-dimed in scenario #2 then sometimes it gets testy as little things keep coming up (a $50 appraisal re-inspect here, a $75 pest inspection there, etc etc etc.)

You can FB me if you have specific questions. :-)

This will be a second, third or fourth house for whichever of these folks.  They're 60+ and this would be a ballgame weekend house for them.  (You've seen what a big deal the games are in my FB feed.)  If I have to chip in CCs, they shouldn't be buying a football house! LOL

But yeah, if it doesn't work out with these people, contributing CCs is definitely something we'll have to consider.

[sjh722]

Okay, so you probably have a cash buyer. :-) Disregard post #2!

Houses here usually appraise pretty close to list. I could list my house tomorrow for $200K, take an offer for $195K, and be 98% confident it would appraise regardless of whether I put it in the MLS or sold it FSBO to Mr. and Mrs. Buyer.

A. If they're a cash buyer, they may not be having an appraisal done.
B. You could have an appraisal done and use that to set the asking price. ("It appraised for $132,500, so that's what we're asking.")
or
C. Just be upfront and say, "If we list it with a REA, we'll be asking $137,000. We're willing to ask $134,000 (or some midpoint) as a private party sale." That gives you room to negotiate.

I think C is probably the easiest and most straight-forward. And, honestly, if they're putting a big chunk down or paying cash, you probably don't have to worry too much about it appraising. If you agree on $133,000 and it appraises at $131,000, just be prepared to adjust the contract price. You're still $1K ahead of where you wanted to be, and don't run the risk of backing yourself into a corner with "It's $130K", then them wanting you to take $126, kwim? People LOVE to negotiate. (I do not, LOL, despite my profession, but that's what my 7.5 years of experience has found. Ha!)

[tarheels]

Ok, you and kaylie both said some mid-point, so we'll go with that

I do also wonder about getting an appraisal. That couple hundred might be worth it.

[tarheels]

And I love negotiating as a buyer But I'm also a really nice guy who likes to leave the other guy room. I hate when someone walks away from a deal feeling abused. (Proof that I am no business shark!) At the very least, I want them to think we're nice people, even if we did negotiate hard. If you negotiate hard, push me to my limit, and treat me poorly, I pretty much despise you by the time it's over. As a seller, we know buyers like ourselves are rare, so that's why we just dread doing it.

[sailorgray]

My IL just sold their house this way pretty much (no seller agent, but there is a buyer's agent). They live in a sought after neighborhood and an agent contacted everyone in the neighborhood hoping someone may be selling.  They never had to list it. They didn't give the potential buyers a price. The buyers just presented them with an offer. They countered with what they were planning on listing it for, which it pretty much what it will appraise for, and the buyers accepted. Easy peasy and they are saving in selling agent fees. They did hire a RE attorney, though.

Also, we were advised by our agent to list our house to sell and to not up it a few thousand "just because".

[boiler717]

Have them name a number first. Our agent wanted us to list at $195, and our private party offers came in higher. Whoever names a number first loses!