What is “Asking Price”? – A Real Estate Investor’s Approach

As real estate investors, it is important to remember that the “asking price” of a house is not the same as the sales price on a piece of merchandise in a retail store. While there are those among us who will negotiate with anyone, anywhere – most of us just don’t feel comfortable haggling with every salesperson that we meet (especially those not paid commissions). The majority of us realize that unless there is something wrong with the item, then an hourly employee just isn’t in the position to offer us a discount, even if we are a world-class negotiator.

This simply is not the case when it comes to the asking price for a house. It really is just what the seller is “asking” for. As buyers, and especially as investors, we may reasonably ask the seller to accept a lower price, because he does have the power to say, “Ok, I’ll give it to you for that much.”

You can think of asking price in this way: when a house first comes on the market, the seller prices it at the high end of what they expect the market will pay. Over time, if their price isn’t compelling enough to force a sale, then they will lower it. Sometimes a house is reduced in price many times before it finally sells. Wouldn’t you be doing the seller a favor by making your lower offer in the beginning and giving them a chance to sell their house right away rather than after months of letting their house languish on the market unsold? Of course, many sellers will say no, but you needn’t fell shy about asking.

My big picture advice when it comes to asking price: it is not some fixed magical number. It is an educated guess of what the seller (and his/her real estate agent) thinks the market will pay. There are many factors that can cause this number to change. So don’t be afraid to ask for the price you want!

Until my next post,

James

P.S. For our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members we teach a variety of powerful negotiating tactics and strategies that can be used to buy, sell and rent properties better. Sign up now and download a variety of real estate investor training courses, access our systems, checklists, forms plus receive on-going training and consulting plus much more.

Related posts:

1. Buying Down Interest Rates For Your Buyers Instead of Discounting The Price At our monthly real estate investor meeting last week (here in Northern Colorado), I discussed...
2. A Passive Approach To Real Estate Investing If you have been interested in the great returns that real estate has to offer,...
3. Asking a Seller to Carry Back: How to Get Owner Financing Investing in Real Estate Many people are afraid to ask for owner financing when they are buying an investment...
4. Handyman Pricing – How To Deal With Using A Low Price I’m going to talk to you about raising your price – told you it’s an...
5. How Real Estate Investor Wholesalers Make Money Lately, I have been working with more and more real estate investor wholesalers. One of...
6. Real Estate Investor Home Value Game – How To Become An Expert On Your Market Whether you are a relatively new real estate investor or an experienced real estate investor,...
7. Price Per Bedroom – Another Tool for Analyzing Rental Properties Yesterday, while analyzing some local houses to determine their potential value as rental properties, I...
8. Working With A Real Estate Agent In Your Real Estate Investing Business If a seller is working through a real estate agent, the process of transforming the...
9. Real Estate Agents and Brokers – The Ultimate Real Estate Wholesalers? Real estate agents and brokers can be the ultimate real estate wholesalers. This is one...
10. Real Estate Investor Motivated Seller Calls – How To Deal With Seller Calls So, you’ve put out some marketing like an ad on CraigsList, a classified ad in...