It is certainly a buyers market these days --- there are far more sellers in the market than buyers, so oftentimes buyers can negotiate quite effectively.  Let's take a look at what the data shows us when examining all single family homes sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in the past 12 months....



The first thing to point out is that sellers have (on average) accepted prices 4.42% below their asking prices.  In fact, only 9% of sellers negotiated sold for 10% (or more) below their asking price.

I thought the data might differ as we explored different price ranges, but the amount that sellers negotiated off of the list price didn't vary too much below $250k, between $250k and $400k versus over $400k.

As helpful as this data can be, it does NOT account for several other factors:

• This analysis compares sales price to final list price.  This does not account for the original list price.  Thus, if a house comes on the market for $300k we might assume that it will sell for $287k (4.42% below list price) but it might be lower than that.  If the listing doesn't sell, and is then reduced to $290k, and then $280k, it might finally sell for 4.42% below $280k ($268k).
• Sellers list their homes with varying levels of price appropriateness.  Some owners of $300k homes list them for $375k.  They might then accept an offer that is 20% below their asking price ($300k) thus contributing to a higher than average difference in list price and sales price.
• This data does not allow you to determine whether you are getting a good deal on a house.  If a $300k house is listed for $250k, you can feel good about paying full price and still having a good deal.  Likewise, if a $300k house is listed at $500k, you shouldn't feel good about negotiating 22% off the list price (and paying $390k).

Again, as a buyer you can anticipate what sellers might expect to get for their home based on the data above, but you can't use the data to determine what an appropriate price is to offer for a house or to pay for it.