How to spot a Zillow listing that will take a low offer

Short answer: A low offer has a better chance when the listing looks stale: the current selling attempt has run well past the local norm, the price has been cut, and few people are saving it. Those are reasons to look closer, not proof the seller will take less. Check them, confirm with well-matched recent sales, then back your number with those sales so the seller has a reason to counter.

“Lowball” has a bad reputation because most low offers are sent blind. A buyer picks a number 15% under asking, sends it on a home that listed last week, and gets no reply. The offers that work go to a different kind of listing, one where the seller is already under pressure and the listing page shows it.

First, check whether the listing is overpriced at all: how to tell if a Zillow listing is overpriced walks through five checks against matched sales.

The five signals a seller may take less

1. The current selling attempt is long. Don’t rely on the “Days on Zillow” counter alone; how it handles relisting depends on the listing source. Open Price history and find when this selling attempt began: skip earlier sales, and note any withdrawn or pending stretches. If the home has been trying to sell for months while similar homes nearby go pending in weeks, the seller has likely felt it. (More on this in what days on market really means.)
2. One or more price cuts. A cut tells you the seller has already admitted the first price didn’t work. Two cuts tell you they’re still searching for the number. The size and timing matter: a big cut after a long stretch is a different seller than a small cut in week two. What a price cut does and does not tell you covers size, timing and repeated cuts.
3. Few saves for its age. Saves are people tapping the heart on the listing. A home that has been up for 60 days with a handful of saves isn’t drawing buyers at this price. A home with lots of saves that still hasn’t sold often has a price problem, a condition problem, or both. See how to see Zillow saves.
4. Back on market. “Pending” then “Active” again in the price history means a deal fell apart. The seller already mentally sold the home once and may be more flexible the second time.
5. Asking price sits above recent sales. Pull nearby homes of the same type and size that sold in the last six months, then check condition, updates, lot and features against this one. If the asking price per square foot is above most well-matched sales and the differences don’t explain it, that’s a reason to question the price, and your offer can point to the evidence.

The reverse: when not to send a low offer

• Listed in the last week or two with saves climbing.
• An open house scheduled for this weekend (the seller wants to see the crowd first).
• Priced at or below recent nearby sales.

A low offer on a home like this rarely gets a counter, and it can make the listing agent take your next offer less seriously.

How to write a below-asking offer that gets a counter

1. Anchor it to sales, not to a percentage. “10% under” reads as a guess. “Three similar homes within half a mile, in similar condition, sold between $X and $Y in the last four months” reads as a reason. Attach the comps.
2. Make the terms clean. Pre-approval or proof of funds, a reasonable inspection period, and a closing date that suits the seller. A strong-terms offer at a lower price beats a messy offer at a higher one more often than buyers expect.
3. Leave room to move. Expect a counter. Decide your walk-away number before you send anything, and plan to meet partway.
4. Trade on terms when price stalls. A seller who won’t drop the price may cover closing costs, credit repairs, or leave items in the home.
5. Keep the tone respectful. Your agent can point to the time on market and the cuts without insulting the home. Sellers counter people they don’t feel attacked by.

A lower price also changes your tax bill; estimate it.

A worked example

Example scenario · sample data, not a real listing.

A three-bed house is listed at $450,000. Price history shows this selling attempt began 94 days ago at $479,000, with cuts to $465,000 and then $450,000, and no earlier withdrawal or relist. It has 11 saves. Four similar homes nearby, in comparable condition, sold in the last five months for $405,000 to $430,000, adjusted for size.

That’s three signals together: a long selling attempt, two cuts, and low interest. If a walk-through doesn’t turn up anything the comps miss, an offer at $415,000, with the four sales attached, pre-approval, and a 30-day close, gives the seller a reason to counter instead of a reason to be offended. A counter around $425,000 to $430,000 would still land in line with the recent sales.

For agents: finding these listings in a search

The slow way is opening listings one at a time and reading each price history. If you have investor or bargain-hunting buyers, the faster way is to sort the results loaded on the current Zillow search page by time on market or price drops, then open only the stale ones and check their sales.

Do it faster with Caza

Caza shows days on market, price cuts and, when Zillow shows them, saves and views on Zillow listings. It flags back-on-market homes and can sort the results loaded on the current Zillow search page by days on market or by price drops. Open a listing and it pulls nearby sales of the same property type, so you can attach comps to the offer. Each comp links to its listing and to Google Maps, and Show all properties on map puts them all on one map. It’s a Chrome extension, and there is no Caza account to create.

Caza is independent and not affiliated with Zillow. Comps and rents come from public Zillow pages and are a starting point, not an appraisal.