The counter
The whole process of selling or purchasing a home is different than most other purchases you make.
The buyer has a set starting number. Then the seller typically comes in with a number lower than the asking price. All the numbers are hopefully based on whatever is defined as the area/neighborhood. Then the seller can come back dropping their number down some, to which the buyer can come back and raise their number some. Eventually, they meet somewhere in the middle.
Then you throw in the real estate agents which are like advisors and the actual negotiators in the deal and it gets a little crazy. The process is not simple. It's complicated. Why does it have to be this way? Maybe because there's a lot of risk on both sides. The risk for the seller if they have to continue to hold on to the home, the risk for the buyer if they end up buying a place that has a lot of unforeseen work that needs to be done.
What if you couldn't do any countering? Buy the house at the price it's set at or don't buy it. Sellers could lower the price based on how the house seems to be showing, but there's no haggling. As a buyer, I don't know if I'd like it, but both parties would know right where they're at from the start.
The buyer has a set starting number. Then the seller typically comes in with a number lower than the asking price. All the numbers are hopefully based on whatever is defined as the area/neighborhood. Then the seller can come back dropping their number down some, to which the buyer can come back and raise their number some. Eventually, they meet somewhere in the middle.
Then you throw in the real estate agents which are like advisors and the actual negotiators in the deal and it gets a little crazy. The process is not simple. It's complicated. Why does it have to be this way? Maybe because there's a lot of risk on both sides. The risk for the seller if they have to continue to hold on to the home, the risk for the buyer if they end up buying a place that has a lot of unforeseen work that needs to be done.
What if you couldn't do any countering? Buy the house at the price it's set at or don't buy it. Sellers could lower the price based on how the house seems to be showing, but there's no haggling. As a buyer, I don't know if I'd like it, but both parties would know right where they're at from the start.