When buying a home in the U.S., how can I get a reasonable price that is neither too low nor too high when bargaining with the seller? How should we price a home?

Evaluate the seller's situation

Before buying a home, you should ask the seller if he or she has a large loan. For example, if the seller has a $300,000 loan, then it is unlikely that the seller will consider an offer under $300,000. Also, try to find out how quickly the seller needs to sell the house, if the other party is in a hurry, he may be more likely to accept a lower price than other sellers.

Research other similar properties in the area

The key to buying a property is to know the market. The real estate market is highly geographic, and prices for similar homes vary greatly not only between cities, but also between towns.

Therefore, it is important to research similar houses before buying, including location, size, and layout. Other factors that affect the price of a house, such as the school district, sometimes similar houses are just one street away from each other, because the price of a house in a different school district so varies greatly.

How long this house has been for sale

The longer the for sale sign is hanging outside the house, the more likely it is to be overpriced.

Often, owners have properties that have been languishing for too long either because they are rejecting all offers that they think are too low, or they have not received any offers yet.

So if the house you're looking at has been on the market for a few weeks, you can try to kill 10% of the price. If it's been on the market for more than three months, consider slashing the price by 15-20%.

Ask for other freebies or discounts

If the seller refuses to change the price, the buyer still has room to negotiate. Remember that sellers are always concerned about the final price, so the more desirable your offer, the more likely the seller will concede elsewhere. For example, you may want to ask the seller to cover closing costs or share the trust property fee with you, which are popular practices in the buyer's market today. If the house needs major repairs, the buyer can also ask for a repair payment.

A different strategy for new homes

Bargaining for a newly completed home will be a much more difficult task. Generally, builders and developers are reluctant to reduce the price of a sale, especially for a new house in a uniform development.

In this case, the builder would rather offer other discounts in order to keep the selling price above a standard, so that other buyers of the whole batch of new homes will need to buy at that price as well.

So when faced with this situation, buyers should ask for upgrades or various freebies rather than asking for a price reduction.

For example, some builders can offer up to $100,000 in upgrades for an $800,000 home. Of course, the situation varies from region to region, and the exact amount of discount is subject to the actual situation.

These are our summary of bargaining tips. Although the agent will usually help the buyer with the final offer when buying a home in the US, the buyer can do it with a clear idea.

It is important to note that not all properties can be bargained for when buying a home in the United States. Some popular properties in good locations even have to be purchased at a higher price.

For example, houses in San Francisco and San Jose are often sold at a premium. So be sure to take control when bidding and don't give high prices easily, and certainly don't just squeeze the price.