Craigslist will charge for car listings.

[redpoint5]

When I sell on Ebay, I set a high shipping and handling fee to avoid the commission Ebay gets on the sale. The very first line in my auction details in Bold CAPITAL letters tells buyers what the shipping and handling fee is, and to factor that into their bid price. One guy gave me negative feedback because he didn't expect the shipping and handling fee to be so much.

Reminds me of people that give 1-star reviews on Amazon because they accidentally ordered blue, and they wanted red instead.

[Fat Charlie]

Heh. Last week I had a guy pissed at me because he ordered a right side part number when what he wanted was the left. Because "when I'm standing looking at the truck, it's on my right..."

My crime was selling him the part number he ordered without assuming he was an idiot. My left hand doesn't become my right hand when you're facing me, why should a truck's left side trim piece become a right side trim piece when you stand facing it?

[Xist]

I try to specify driver's or passenger's side, but then I am assuming their country of origin?

Off-topic, do you think the OP will get mad?

Or some random member will petition the moderators?

Anyway, my sister made an offer on a house. Her husband liked it. The kids liked it. It was in the same school boundaries and had two two-car garages.

Like Invoice the Engineer's new house, but without any cool projects.

They counter-offered and she rage quit.

Don't negotiations usually last longer than that? It did not sound like the counter was that bad, she just wants everyone to do what she says. So, unless they do not have any better offers and they come back, which could be a pride issue on their part, she will probably end up paying more money and probably make other compromises.

Do you guys have experience negotiating houses? I put in an offer for one house and they accepted, but it was over 15% of the valuation, I told my realtor there was no way they were coming down, he told me to let him try, and a week later he said they would not come down. It sold for a price in the middle, but several thousand higher more than the VA would have loaned me.

[redpoint5]

Our wandering OT is at least as inappropriate as petitioning a moderator to keep a thread on topic. Despite that, I'm always willing to discuss something of interest.

I don't have enough details about your sister's bid to have an opinion, other than what you say is a rage quit. I've not bought plenty of things because I didn't think the price was reasonable, and I've commented as such. That isn't rage, that's just discontinuing participation in an unwinnable game (a game in which both parties should win).

I'm in contract on a house right now, negotiated my previous house, and had rental property in OK too. I've got experience in negotiating in general, which isn't fundamentally different than negotiating real estate purchase contracts.

The only thing I take pride in is reducing my emotional attachment to anything I don't yet own. Being willing to walk away is the most important trait of negotiation as either a buyer or a seller.

If a house sold for more than the VA appraiser estimate, they were clearly wrong about their valuation. A valuation is a best approximation of value, but is not value itself. Value is established at the time and place of sale, and that is the only time the exact value is established. Any other valuation is merely an approximation.

[Fat Charlie]

Appraisals are... What they are. I couldn't get a VA loan 16 years ago because they were looking at the house as being part of a rural area to its northwest. We, the builder, and lots of the town's population, saw it as a bedroom community annoyingly far from a city to the south. It was priced, and we were willing to pay, according to the higher market. So we ditched the VA mortgage and got a different one.

Storming away from the counter offer does sound unreasonable.



Xist's sister's initial offer should not have been the absolute highest she was willing to pay. Just like with Craigslist, there is no real THIS IS THE PRICE. It's a market. CL charging a nominal fee for listings will weed out the most pathetically childish sellers, but real estate is already expensive enough to deal in. By the time someone lists a house, they've already put a lot of time and money into it. They're serious. Xist's sister looks like a traditional CL lowballer wasting everybody's time.

[Xist]

The owner asked for an additional 1.25%.

[I did not originally know the specifics]

[redpoint5]

OfferUp people are the WORST.

I'm still looking for a washer and gas dryer. One person took a dark, out of focus, too wide shot of their washer and dryer. The single photo isn't good enough to even make out the brand logo on the front.

I asked what the make/model was of both the washer and dryer, and got this response:

"I don't know, maybe it says on the appliances".

Of course it does, which is why I asked! Is this person really responding that way to dozens of people not realizing that they actually want to know, and aren't just making small talk?

If I were an employer, I'd look at CL/OfferUp postings to help inform my opinion of the candidate. If they don't care about the "work" they put into things that directly affect their personal financial well-being, what is the chance they would give proper effort into a business they don't own?