We offered $150K under asking. We got the home. Here's why it worked.

I had dinner recently with clients I helped buy a home last summer, and something they said stuck with me. But let me start from the beginning.

Their family was growing, the husband landed a new job in Toronto, and commuting from Hamilton was eating him alive. The plan was to move close to the parents so the grandparents could help with the kids once the wife went back to work.

We sold their Hamilton home first. Nothing they liked came up in time, so they moved in with the parents while we hunted. Honestly, that living arrangement turned out to be their biggest weapon, even though it didn't feel like one at the time.

We placed a few offers and lost a couple in multiples. Then a home they'd been eyeing, a couple streets from the parents, came back on the market. It had started way too high, sold conditionally, and the deal fell through. Even with the price cut it was still above what my clients wanted to pay.

So we sent an offer significantly under asking. I mean significantly.

But here's the part that mattered. Before the offer landed, I called the listing agent and prepped them. An offer is coming, it's going to be much lower than your asking, and it's not disrespect. Here's my clients' position, here's the comparables, this is what they're offering. If it doesn't work for your sellers, all the best.

The agent came back with a counter. A few calls later we had a deal, about $150,000 under asking at the time, and even further under what it was originally listed for. I was honestly shocked it came together.

They moved in, life is good. At dinner, the husband told me if they hadn't bought this home, they'd still be looking. Nothing comparable has come up since at that price.

Then he told me the rest. They'd stayed in touch with the previous owner, and it came out the sellers had been going through a divorce. The home had sat, the collapsed deal had drained them, and they just wanted out so they could get on with their lives.

If you read my post about selling during a divorce, my clients were the buyers in that story.

Three things I'd want you to take from this

1. You never know what the seller is going through. The asking price tells you what they want. Their situation decides what they'll take, and you usually can't see it. The only way to find out is to make the offer.

2. A low offer works or dies on how it's presented. I've watched agents fire in lowballs with zero context and get treated like a joke. Call ahead. Explain the reasoning. Bring comparables. Same number, completely different result.

3. Selling first bought them the power to wait. Living with the parents wasn't glamorous, but it meant no deadline and no desperation. The buyer who doesn't have to buy this month is the buyer who can send that offer.

My clients will be in that house for decades because we made a serious offer instead of a polite one. And the sellers got what they actually needed, which was out. Nobody lost that deal.