First Offers and Negotiations

We have our first offer already. So much for the soft condo market, I guess. Less than one week on the market. Not bad for the little rat-trap. The potential buyer a seemingly young guy (the market I figured we'd attract) who came into some family money. Read: No contingency sale. So that's good.

Of course, he's trying to low-ball us. Kerry and I have a set sale price range that we're not very willing to move on given the fact that the place hasn't even been on the market for a week. He's about three grand under our bottom line. Our agent says we should come down about two grand from our listing price and hopefully we'll meet in the middle and that would put is right into our range for sale.

If the final offer is still low, I'm going to try to get the agents to take a hit on their commission. If the final offer is still a grand or so under our bottom line, I'll ask them to drop their rate 1/2 a percent. Certainly, our agent should be willing to do that since he really hasn't had to do a whole heckuvalot to get this sale. And 2% of the sale price would be better than 0% of no sale and running the risk of the listing expiring in four months. Of course, taking a grand or two less today may be worth eating several thousand dollars in October when we're desperate to get out and have the money for the new place. But that's the art of the deal.

The other thing about the offer is they want our gas logs for the fireplace and the carbon monoxide detector. Ummm, the listing says "wood fireplace". There are no gas logs and there is no gas connection. Also, as far as I know, we don't have a carbon monoxide detector. Our smoke detector is hard-wired to the electrical system and is maintained by the condo association. If we have one, he can have it. If it's a huge deal breaker for him, I'll go out and buy the damn thing. They only cost $20.00.