This house has been on the market for about 2 months now. It's located
in the Clarks Summit area of NE Pa near Scranton where prices tend to
be lower than national averages. The company selling the home mostly
does re-locations because the area has a lot of fairly temporary
residents. Eg. This house was bought (my realtor says) 3 years ago for
#162K. It's on the market now for $175K. No work was done to it
because it's fairly new. On my walk through I noticed it had a 200 amp
square D service box, new hi efficiency forced air gas furnace. Taxes
are on the high side I think. It may even be that the home is
currently owned by the company the previous owner worked for. If
you're curious, the MLS # 20055340 and can be seen he
http://www.classicproperties.com/bin...ogin%3Ffarsf11
The last photo shows a beautiful addition made to the original home


On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 18:46:57 GMT, WM
wrotF:

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 21:12:55 -0500, 46erjoe
wrote:

All things being equal, how much should a prospective home buyer offer
to a home seller. If I go too far below the asking price, I could
insult the seller and he won't want to deal with me again. If I go too
near the seller's asking price, I stant to lose a lot of money. Any
general rule of thumb?

1% less, 5% 10% ?????

Thicken your skin.

I suggest you develop a plan for negotiating that will both satisfy
your own needs and yet permit continued discussions with the seller.
That usually involves some light hearted bantering with the seller or
his agent. Humor works wonders, but there is no magic number. The
fair market value and current situation of the seller is King.

I've been offered 50% of my asking price and I didn't mind, but
others may have been offended and refused to deal with the person.