{"id":14870,"date":"2024-09-25T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T07:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=14870"},"modified":"2025-12-21T21:49:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T05:49:31","slug":"buyer-what-is-reasonable-to-offer-below-asking-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-is-reasonable-to-offer-below-asking-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Too Low? What Is Reasonable to Offer Below Asking Price?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Determining the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-much-should-i-offer-on-a-house\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">right offer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for a house can often feel like a delicate dance. While buyers aim to secure their dream home without overstretching their budget, sellers want the best possible return on their investment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what is reasonable to offer below asking price? The answer isn\u2019t always straightforward, as it depends on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/current-real-estate-market\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">current real estate market<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the property condition, and the seller&#8217;s urgency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ll discuss what\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-to-make-an-offer-on-a-house\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reasonable to offer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to ensure you strike a balance between securing a great deal and not offending the seller with a lowball offer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Work With a Top Agent to Nail Down Your Offer<\/h3>\n                        <p>Most people only buy one or a few homes in their lifetime, but experienced agents help buyers all the time. When it comes to making a solid offer on your dream home, who you work with matters.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/buyer?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Find Agent<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2>Should I offer less than asking price?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-much-should-i-offer-on-a-house\/\">Making an offer<\/a> on a house is as much of an art form as it is a strategic move. You want to make an offer that will save you money (of course), but you also want your offer to appeal to the sellers.<\/p>\n<p>So, how do you even come up with an offer that is both reasonable and non-offensive?<\/p>\n<p>First, you need to determine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-much-house-can-i-afford-rule-of-thumb\/\">how much house you can afford<\/a>. HomeLight\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/how-much-house-can-i-afford\">Home Affordability Calculator<\/a> gives you an idea of what your mortgage payment would look like depending on your income, credit score, and monthly debt.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is just an estimate \u2014 you\u2019re still going to want to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/difference-between-mortgage-prequalification-preapproval\/\">get pre-approved for a mortgage<\/a>. Pre-approval will give you a better estimate of the size of the loan you\u2019ll qualify for, and it can function as documentation to show sellers that you\u2019re likely to be approved for a mortgage.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at different circumstances where offering lower than the asking price would be acceptable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buying a house is probably the most expensive purchase you\u2019ll ever make. Are you worried about offering too low below asking price? Find out what\u2019s reasonable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":48514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,646,702],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-making-offers","category-offers-negotiations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is It Too Low? What Is Reasonable to Offer Below Asking Price?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A house is probably your most expensive purchase. If you&#039;re looking to save more, you may be wondering, &quot;What is reasonable to offer below asking price?&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-is-reasonable-to-offer-below-asking-price\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is It Too Low? What Is Reasonable to Offer Below Asking Price?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A house is probably your most expensive purchase. If you&#039;re looking to save more, you may be wondering, &quot;What is reasonable to offer below asking price?&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-is-reasonable-to-offer-below-asking-price\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-25T07:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T05:49:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Untitled-design-2024-09-26T015915.805.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Valerie Kalfrin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@valerie-kalfrin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Valerie Kalfrin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is It Too Low? 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