Let's say you find a house you'd like to buy... but it's been sitting on the market for a month or two. 

You'll (we'll) likely start to wonder... how is the seller thinking about pricing?  Are they still hoping to sell at or close to their list price?  Are they willing to negotiate down on price by just a bit... or by quite a lot?

It's hard to know... and asking that question of the seller usually doesn't provide helpful feedback.

Most sellers don't know how flexible they are going to be on price until they have an offer in hand... when they can see all of the terms of the offer, the potential sale timeline, and more.  

So... asking doesn't tell us much. But making an offer typically does.

Once we put an offer in writing, we tend to get very useful information very quickly. That isn't usually an acceptance (depending on the price you offer) but we should have some sort of a counteroffer to consider.  It might be a counteroffer that barely moves off of the list price, telling us the seller feels good about where they're priced and they are willing to wait for a buyer who will pay that price. Sometimes it's a counter that comes down more than we expected, which is always an exciting surprise.

Either way, the seller's response to that first offer usually tells us a lot about where we might end up.  

So what does this mean for you?

If you're hesitant to make an offer because you're not sure how firm the seller really is on price... that's normal. But keep in mind that most sellers don't know how flexible they are going to be on price until they have an offer to consider.  The good news is, once we make that first move, we usually get a much better sense of whether the purchase will work out or not, very quickly, and then we can discuss whether it makes sense to keep negotiating, hold your position, or pursue other properties.