Buying or selling a home involves a lot of things, it also raises questions. In this column ‘Ask Bob’, real estate expert/broker Bob Bartikoski of RE/MAX Paradise Homes Bonaire answers a real estate question from a reader. This time:
Question: Are counter-offers not used on Bonaire? I started off with a lower offer and the Seller just rejected it, and didn’t make a counter offer. I raised my offer a little and they rejected it again. How do I know what price they’ll take if they don’t make counter offer?
That’s a good question. Counter offers are done here on Bonaire, so I’m guessing if you received two rejections to your offers, the offers you made were simply too low for the Seller to want to enter a negotiation. Of course, it never hurts to ask.
However, homes on Bonaire are usually priced for sale at their market value or close to it, but not always. Most homes on Bonaire sell within 5% to 10% of their asking price, and most will sell within just a few percentage points of the asking price. We are a small island with a limited number of properties for sale and you have a lot of competition from other buyers who also want to own property here, especially in the below $500,000 USD market. Low offers are not a good strategy here.
I understand wanting to “get a deal” but try to re-set that thought to consider that the best deal is owning a home on Bonaire. That’s what we did. My wife and I paid the asking price for our home.
Best of luck in finding your Bonaire home, let us know if we can help!
Do you want to buy or sell a house in Bonaire, or do have a real estate question for Bob? email him at: [email protected]. Call for free from the US: 1-866-611-7362 or Bonaire: +599-717-7362. See all our listings here.