okay, so DH and I just sold our first home. Yesterday we looked at a bigger house that we fell in love with. We are prepared to make a reasonable offer, when our agent calls and says that the seller doesn't even know if she wants to sell her home! WHAT?!

I'm so upset. We've looked at almost 75 homes, and I really felt like this one was 'the one', you know? I just don't understand why someone would put a home on the market, just to jerk people around. She has until Friday to decide what she wants to do.

I've heard people living in their homes for long periods of time can get attached, but she's a 30 year old, newly divorced woman who needs to sell because she can't afford the mortgage (according to her agent). So, I don't understand what the problem is. Now I'm afraid if she does decide to stay on the market, she won't accept anything other than full asking price, which the house needs some repairs and I refuse to pay full price for something that needs necessary repairs that she should have been responsible for.

Okay, that's my two cents. I think some serious sewin' is in order for me!

I would encourage your agent to take her an offer anyway. If she sees something in writing, she might just decide to take it. Of course, if you are offering lower than her asking price, I would definately write an explanation as to why (the repairs, etc). And do tell your agent you are willing to look at a counter offer... will keep fingers crossed for you!

I'm with Cori, make an offer. If it's the right house, it'll work out. We had lots of drama buying our home: we had three signed contracts before we landed the foreclosed-upon fixer-upper we live in now! I got the inspector to give me a frequent-buyer discount when we got to the third house!!

Make an offer. She can refuse, but at least she will be aware there is a serious buyer. Good luck.

just be happy she doesn't raise her price. i've seen that happen recently.

make an offer and if the house is meant for you, you will get it

be sure to have an inspection

We're going to make an offer tomorrow morning. It's on the market for $135,900 and we're making an offer of $130,000, and she needs to either fix the floor in the kitchen (the laminate is coming apart and it's cracked, which they tried to hide with a rug) and she needs to have a door replaced (she cut a huge hole in the bottom!), or she needs to give us an allowance to fix it ourselves.

The backyard needs a total overhaul and it's just...really dirty. Like, not messy, but dirty and unclean (mold in the coffee pot!). The whole thing is just really weird, but if she rejects our offer, she has to take it off the market (according to her agent).

Good luck.

Why would she have to take it off the market if you don't make a full price offer?

Unless the rules are very different in your state, the seller is free to reject any offer she wants, especially given that it isn't full price. The repairs seem fairly minor, so the big question is what do the comps say it is worth? The asking price is only a starting point and may or may not reflect reality. Our seller refused to fix anything, but we felt that the house was still worth what we had offered and went ahead anyway.

Good luck - I hope things work out for you and you find your dream home :-)