It’s really hard to give blanket advice on how to get the best price. It depends on the location and condition of the property, the competition in the neighborhood, the motivation of the owner, …

That said, you can offer as low as you want. The worst that can happen is that the offer gets accepted, and you’ll actually have to buy the house 🙂

Selective sharing. I like it.

Okay, not really. $5,000 a month, must be a *heck* of a place. $2,500 for the new one, you must be putting down a *heck* of a lot of money and/or it isn’t half as nice as the place you’re renting.

I don’t care how best a price you get on your new place, you’ll be losing money and regretting it in the future.

To answer your misguided question though, I wouldn’t expect that you could get more than 10% below asking on a place, and less if the seller priced it right in the first place.

If you’re thinking you can take advantage of the deflating bubble to get a better price today, sorry you can’t.

Eccen –

My advice would be to do alot of diligence on the market conditions, that are pertinent to that area. As you said 10 months is a long time. Have they listed prior to that? Are there expireds or cancelleds for that home? How much do the sellers owe on the mortgage, do they have any HELOCs? How long have they lived there? What did they buy it for and how long ago? What is the price per square foot in the area?

You say it started at 900 and now is at 749k… What is the chronology of the price reductions? When did they happen and by how much did they occur. What about recent sales of comparable properties in the area? How many have there been and how many have failed and turned into expired, cancelled or withdrawn listings?

A large down is obviously helpful, it pretty much shows that you should not have many financing problems. How much the seller or sellers agent considers this a factor is debateable. Without knowing these other factors I mentioned above, it is hard to advise on what to come in at. However, your realtor should be able to give you the answers to these questions, to help you assess where to start negotiations.

Of course, my first piece of advice would be to say try to wait if you can as I feel this area will keep declining. I was out in Valley Center last week and it is a GHOST TOWN. I know this is not Valley Center but still, I know of some very nice developments out in east Escondido that are also getting HAMMERED.

As always, I understand people have different needs, desires and situations so if you are going to buy now, get the answers to those questions above and work from there.

If you want to post the address I will see what I can do to advise you on this thread.

SD Realtor

You could offer 20% below,Just use a letter of intent.It is one page and non binding .Make sure you mention the falling market and your concerns about getting hurt, perhaps in a cover letter to the agent. Go away for a couple of months and if the house is still on the market they probably will have dropped the price a little. If it plays out that way go back and ask them what they think about your offer again. You can do this on several house to improve your odds. I don’t know that many people who have this kind of discipline but I have done it and will do it again. It satisfies the itch to be in the market without totally ruining the fact that time is on your side. If the market really falls just start a new round of “lowballs”.
Disclaimer: This stategy is not for everybody.
Best wishes

If you are talking about long-run, buying a house is a good long-term investment. But in the short-term, you may lose. How much, I cannot tell you because it depends on how deep the house slump is going down and how long house recession is going to last.