I have intention to purchase a house at Bandar Sri Damansara, and I was introduced by an agent, with asking price of RM 358,000.

This is also the first time I buy a property. After the review, the house is around 16 years ago, and the seller did not repaint the house when he is selling, so repaint definitely a must. The single storey house only has kitchen extension, and I am looking for more discount on top of the asking price.

My question is, is it normal to ask for 10 to 13% which is around RM 30,000 to 45,000 of discount during negotiation? How much usually the percentage we can go for on top of asking price by agent.

Thank you.

What is the bank evaluation market price?

It's always depand on the owner of the house. If you were asking agent for the discount, he has to go through the vendor for negotiation.Do you need to check out the market value ?I can help you to do that

In yr dream la....

1%-2% is already a lot. Nobody would wanna sell a house to you for discount 10-13%. Usually this price is consider cheap.

Not into that stage yet, just finish reviewing the house.

How to check? Is it free service?
Cause the owner still staying in the house, so it is not rude if I ask for discount directly to owner? Or try not to bypass like asking in front of the agent?


Ya, I wish.. why you said the price is consider cheap? You own a house there or you are working in property related field? The reason I asked because I reviewed a lot of houses there, the price could ranged from 290K to 380K, for same area, same type of house. Other factos are like renovation, maintenance, and location (not junction etc.)

There are no FIXed rules.

a. Check (and be nice) with the estate agent, and see if the price is negotiable. Share with them about your findings... on the huge price range of 290k to 380k within the area. Where do you think your prospect is nearest to, 290k or 380k?

b. Talk to your neighbours

c. Get a bank valuation - get several

d. How long has the property been on the market?

My range will be between 320K to 330k, the one I saw 380K (also the highest listed price so far) is move-in condition

I guess you mean the neighbours of the house, and for the bank valuation, any idea how to go for it? How much would be the charges?

The property only listed for sell almost 1 week ago, but is hot selling area, cause already scouting for 5 months.

This post has been edited by engtat: Apr 19 2010, 03:39 PM

Yes, i can help you to check for free via h/p, discounts for 10-13% is considered a lot, some more the economic is started to getting better, i don't think the owner will give u that much of discounts due to appreciation of the house and better ROI. The valuation is to be done by bank valuer and the loan amount would be based on the market value (e.g MOF 90% of the market value). The important thing now is how much the vendor wants to sell to you, and how a negotiation to be done to reduce the price.

The next questions are... Are you in a rush to buy? Did you ask for the reason for sale?

The key is to get a price where you are most comfortable with... IF you believe it is priced between 320 - 330k, but the asking price is 358k, stick to your budget and range.

I did with my recent purchases and no regrets (although my purpose was for investment).

For valuation, most bank loan officers should be able to provide "free" services.

I will let you know if needed, thank you in advance

I am not in rush to buy, that's why I am still scouting until now (5 months already). The reason the owner wants to sell, because they are going to move to new and bigger house.

There will be another meetup this Saturday, I will try to ask for better price.

the usual percentage is 5%; if it is more than 5% - it means that the seller has marked up the price pretty high and if he agrees, really means that he is desperate to sell it - because nobody want to buy or because the property got problem?

i think there are no fixed rules. i have always offered lowball offers first. so low in fact that several times owners decided to not negiate at all any more. by lowball i mean 20-40% below the asking price depending on how reasonable the offer. i never offered higher than what would equal a 6% ROI for the feasable rent i could get from the location. you can imagine that this strategy required a lot of patience and no immediate need to buy. but it did work pretty well. when we bought our current house, i offered only slightly over 70% of the asking price and after many negotiations the seller (who turned out needed the money) settled for 75% of the asking price. FYI: asking price was not that much above market price.

in general it will be easier to get a property cheap if the seller needs the money. if no need for the money, seller can expect any price (reasonable or not) and refuse to sell for less.

just sharing how we got the house.

I super agree!
In fact, we share the same principals in investing properties. I have walked away if the property doesn't mean certain financial benchmark... and negotiated from that basis.
It really depends on how desperate the seller is for cash. In fact, until recently, it was a seller's market!
Don't try, Don't know!

yes, the only thing about using this aproach is you can never fall in love with the property. otherwise you offer irrational prices. unless you are prepared to walk away if the negotiation does not go as you want it you wont be able to really negotiate. actually this currently a problem for us because we would like to buy the neighbours property. however our nego-power is pretty low for obvious reasons and thus it will probably not materialise.

go bank value the house 1st, foc. then look around for similar house nearby how much its selling. then from there u can roughly know how much its worth..