The Real Denver Story
As a follow up on a blog post I did a few days ago about making low-ball offers I’d like to offer these Denver real estate stats from the local Denver MLS, Metrolist:
Denver Real Estate Market Activity
| MLS | Number | Under | Number | Avg List | Avg Sale | |||||
| Area | Actives | Contract | Sold | Price | Price | %SP-LP | Expired | |||
 |
||||||||||
| DNE | 1438 | 437 | 2472 | $239,775 | $235,788 | 98.3 | 63 | |||
| DNW | 468 | 188 | 1238 | $258,892 | $254,392 | 98.3 | 16 | |||
| DSE | 1496 | 447 | 3089 | $490,112 | $476,357 | 97.2 | 41 | |||
| DSW | 1108 | 293 | 1944 | $170,404 | $167,141 | 98.1 | 56 | |||
| DTD | 8 | 3 | 6 | $1,102,900 | $1,044,500 | 94.7 | 1 | |||
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||||||||||
| Total | 4518 | 1368 | 8749 | $316,044 | $308,659 | 97.66 | 177 | |||
The 3-letter codes to the left simply represent different Denver neighborhoods.
You can see that the average difference of List vs. Sold Price in the Denver real estate market is almost 98%. So, on average, a buyer should expect to go under contract for around 3% below the list price. Again, these are just the Denver averages. So you can understand why I was arguing that most extreme low-ball offers will not be entertained even in a buyer’s market.
If the agent on the receiving end of a low-ball offer is knowledgeable they will know all about the latest Denver real estate trends, and will certainly have read the current Denver market stats posted above.
Now I know that not every agent out there is perfectly competent- but that’s true for any profession. And I always like to assume that I’m working with someone who is smarter and more competent than me, which keeps me on my toes for negotiations.
The point is: you need to do your homework before writing an offer or listing your home at a certain price. And don’t listen to the national media’s constant griping about how bad things are for the Denver real estate market, and then automatically assume that this means it’s time to write a low-ball offer. It certainly might be time to write a low offer, but there has to be some justification for your price. Maybe the house has sat on the market for a long time, maybe it’s in pre-foreclosure, maybe there are expensive repairs needed…but there should really be some justification for a low-ball offer or you are just fishing for desperation. And that usually ends up being a waste of everyone’s time.
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