Westside LA Real Estate Advice for Home Buyers: Brief synopsis on what factors to consider when making an offer.  You want your offer to be good enough to attract the seller’s attention, but not so high that you overpay for the property. What’s the magic number?

Different markets require different strategies. In a buyer’s market, you often have the luxury of offering below the list price. You and the seller can then negotiate until you reach a mutually acceptable price.

A seller’s market, is a different story. If you’re in a multiple offer competition with other buyers, you may not have a chance to negotiate with the sellers. In this situation, your first price may have to be your very best offer.

Regardless of the market conditions, you need to understand local market value to feel comfortable with your offer price. The best way to learn market value is to look at a lot of listings of the kind of home you hope to buy. These might be homes you see at Sunday open houses, or listings that you see with your real estate agent.

Let your agent know the addresses of any listing you see that might work for you. Ask the agent to let you know the sale prices when the transactions close. Keep a record of these listing and sale prices. You can refer back to this data when you decide to make an offer.

House hunting tip: It’s useful to look at the relationship between the list price and the selling price of listings you’ve seen. For example, if homes are selling, on average, for 97 percent of the list price, you might use this percentage as a gauge. If you think a property is well priced, you could offer 4-5 percent below the asking price and plan to negotiate a price that’s approximately 3 percent below the list price. Your agent can provide you with additional comparable sales information for sold listings that you didn’t see.

What do you do when there aren’t any guidelines? In a hot seller’s market, properties often sell for considerably more than the list price.

There’s an element of guesswork involved in multiple offer bidding. It helps to work with a trustworthy agent who knows local market value and who can provide advice and guidance.