What would you offer?

[piglady]

Go to http://www.rgv-realty.com/search/ and enter the # 15515 in the multilisting search and tell me what you would offer for this property in this buyer's market?

[Joshie]

That's really going to be area specific. The house is awfully close to the road. What does your agent think it's worth?

[the mama]

It said 1,5,10 acres. I would start with the 5 acres and offer 175K. Always room to dicker, and who knows they may reallllly need to sell.

[Wolf mom]

Get comps of "recently sold" in the area. Then make an offer.

[brody]

how badly do you want it?
how much can you pay?

how much land comes with the 250000?

if you want it offer as much as you can

if you are ehh about it lowball them ... seriously

the schoolhouse we are in now we saw it it's first day on the market and came in at full asking price that night - we got an offer for $20,000 more the day after the deal was solid

land we bought last fall I did a ton of research and figured out exactly what I thought it was worth - we went in a little lower - vendor came back at exactly my price - we signed

without knowing your answers to these questions that's all I can offer ..
I would offer nothing for it as it wouldn't suit me

[piglady]

The 250 is with the 20 acres. The land is what I really want but the house is big enough to meet our needs. I have found 10 acres very similar for 100K so I assume the land is worth 200 and the house is 50. I would pay 250 if I have to but if things are depressed in the area, I don't want to over pay when I could get it for 230 but then again, I don't want to make them mad so they won't take any offer less than asking. So, was hoping some agents on here could give me a rule of thumb for the first offer.

[brody]

it really is area dependant - as you don't sound like you HAVE to have it but you want the 20 acres .. I'd find an agent to act for you who knows the area and talk to them but generally an offer 10 - 20 % below asking isn't going to offend anybody .. negotiations are a pretty accepted part of the real estate game - for this (depending on comparables - I'm going to presume it's a fair price for the moment though - I'd be tempted to come in around 200,000)

when we have bought property we don't even tell our agent the exact most we are willing to pay - we keep our figure just a little lower even to them ... then if we really want something we can up our price just a bit (we have bought (and sold some of) 5 pieces of property

[fellini123]

Try and find out more information about the property. What was the apprasal? What did the current owners buy the property for? And how long ago?
It looks like noone has lived there in awhile. I would probably start at about 205 not much more, unless it is recently on the market, or it was apprasied high, or they bought it recently for a higher price.
Alice in Virginia

[piglady]

thanks, that's the kind of information I needed!!

[pheasantplucker]

I'd start with offering them about 70% of their asking price...if you want it. I'd go maybe as high as 80%. It's abuyer's market right now, if you have the financing. If they balk...walk away, and don't be surprised if they call you a week later, to see if you're still interested. Good luck

[fantasymaker]

Why are you offering on a house you dont want? Id make a offer on just the land , tell em the offer is with the house or torn down or removed cause you dont care for the house and offer them $30,000 .
Of course $30,000 is what I think 20 acres is worth, What do you think its worth?

[piglady]

It's not that I don't want the house, it's just that the land is more important and the house will serve our needs and a heck of a lot cheaper than building a new one. Land in the RGV runs $10,000 an acre on everything I've seen so far. It is extremely hard to find this much land that allows animals, even at these high prices. That's big time farming country so the farmers hold on to their land for generations. Very fertile. The only other thing I can find that I can afford is 10 acres of brush and it's not in as good a shape as this 20 acres of row crop land. So far, nothing comes near this so I think I'll go for it. I'll let you know what happens.

[Yvonne's hubby]

The house appears to be in the 20 25 year old range, still in decent shape but will be needing some attention in the next 10 years. I would allow no more than 50k on it. The value of the land is the big factor. Good farmland is "worth" whatever you can make on it and pay for over the course of 20 years. This of course presumes that its highest and best use is farming. It can be worth lots more if developed for commercial purposes, or residential. It takes some pretty creative farming and marketing practices to get farmland to produce and pay itself off in 20 years at much more than 2000 per acre. This of course depends entirely upon your management and willingness to make your farm efforts pay. In my mind this listing is "worth" somewhere in the 100k range, assuming you can get the whole 20 acres and its best use is farmland. Like I said though, it could be worth tremendous amounts more if its in a developable area. The best way to determine value is to have an independent appraisal made. Getting off ones wallet and spending a few hundred bucks for an honest appraisal can save them tens of thousands in the long run. Or....... you can do your own homework, go to the clerks office, sort through the property transfers in the area and see what similar properties have been sold for. Then make the adjustments for the various differences and make your offer based solely on facts and figures. Leave your emotions at the door.