It’s not something that economists routinely track, but it provides a rough sense of what’s happening in local real estate markets. Call it the lowball index.
A year ago, according to researchers at the National Association of Realtors, one out of 10 members surveyed in a monthly poll complained about lowball offers on houses listed for sale. In the latest survey — conducted during March among a sample of 4,500 agents and brokers across the country and not yet released — there were hardly any.
Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com to discuss value issues. Remember if you need a mortgage and it does not appraise for the sale price your whole deal may be shot. Cost does not equal value.
Instead, the focus of volunteered comments has shifted to declining inventory levels — fewer houses available to sell — and multiple offers on well-priced listings.
A lowball offer typically involves a contract submitted to a seller where the price proposed by the purchaser is 25 percent or more below list. Lowballs increase sharply when there’s a glut of properties available, asking prices are out of sync with local economic realities, and values are depressed or uncertain. Buyers figure: Hey, why not? Maybe I’ll get lucky.
read more: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/22/tp-throwing-lowballs-no-longer-a-good-move/
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