How Much to Offer to Buy a Home in Sacramento

Your Realtor can advise on how much to offer to buy a home in Sacramento.

Does the purchase price in an offer to buy a home in Sacramento give sellers insight as to the buyer’s motives? It might, depending on your type of marketplace. When we have a seller’s market in Sacramento, which is our case today, based on low inventory and high demand, many buyers are not winning homes when they offer less than list price. When we receive an offer under list price, it generally signifies the buyer is not that interested in buying the home. Little desire can equate to troublesome escrows.

The days on market, btw, don’t necessarily matter as much as some believe. Some homes simply take longer to sell, especially if the home is not a mainstream attraction. There is a certain mentality among buyers that says if a home is still on the market after, say, three weeks, they should make a lowball offer, and that kind of single-focus strategy does not tend to work. But then buyers don’t really know how to negotiate and neither do some of their agents.

In all fairness, the urge to negotiate is pretty much the American way. Everybody feels like they should do it. Even I, when buying a house in Hawaii, discussed with my agent if I should offer less than list price. I’m as susceptible as the next guy. Fortunately, my agent, looking me straight in the eye, leaned over and warned: Elizabeth . . . they have a counter out. Which abruptly snapped my wits to attention, and list price it was.

How Much to Offer to Buy a Home in Sacramento?

Throughout my years on this planet, and I’m gunning for 65 now, I have slowly come to realize this fact:

It’s not how much you pay for what you want, it’s whether you get what you want.

If the price seems fair for the object at hand, I agree. This is a simple lesson but ’twas a tough road to get there. How much to offer for a home in Sacramento should be based on whether you want that home. Here are more observations:

• This is not a flea market in Mexico.
• Offering list price is not always enough in a seller’s market.
• Five years from now, you won’t even remember how much you paid.

Working with home buyers, we discuss how much they want the home. We gather information to present odds. How much to offer to buy a home in Sacramento is then based on those odds. We might break it down into 50%, 80% and 95%. There might even be 110% odds if we’re feeling particularly strong vibes about the situation. Sizing it up, suggesting the right call, is how an experienced Sacramento Realtor helps a buyer to determine attraction. Of course, the final decision rests with the buyer.