What would be a reasonable offer to make on a home?

We have made an offer on a home in Denmark that is listed for 2,595,000dk (about $520 000 CAD... this unfortunately is considered a cheaper home in the part of Denmark we live in- North Sjaeland). In Denmark, the sellers agents show potential buyers the home and buyers do not have a representing agent of their own. This home has been on the market for close to 4 months. We've heard the average selling time is 7 to 8 months. It is considered a buyers market now (although I haven't seen the prices budge much since last year!) The home is in excellent condition however is somewhat outdated and could use some remodelling (it is liveable as is). Without the benefit of a knowledgeable agent negotiating for us, what would be a reasonable offer to make?

I'm not familiar with the prices in that area, but offering around 200.000 kr less is always a good start in my opinion. That the house has only been on the market for 4 months is not in your favour, but keep negotiating. To get some leverage in your bargaining, check out the prices of similar houses in the area on www.boligsiden.dk (in Danish), then try to pinpoint the flaws of the house and make an estimation of how much it would set you back to fix this (eg. new kitchen 100.000 kr) and use this to bargain with.

Sometimes, the seller has no problems waiting until he gets the right price - in this case you are stuck and you either have to pay the full asking price (although as a standard minimum he SHOULD go down around 50.000 kr, especially for a house for almost 2.6 mio) or find somewhere else.

Best of luck with it.

You may want to do some research to see what homes generally go for in that area. For example, if similar homes sell for an average of 97% of list price, I would offer slightly below that to leave room for negotiation. Good luck!