Most buyers ask what percentage below asking they should offer. It is the wrong first question. The number at the bottom of an offer is the output of about six things I look at first, and almost none of them are the list price. Here is the whole process, and what happens on the other side when your offer lands.
The list price is an opinion, not a measurement
A seller can ask whatever they like. The list price tells you what the seller hopes to get, what their agent talked them into, or in some cases what they need to clear their mortgage. None of those are the same as what the home is worth, and two of them have nothing to do with you.
So I do not start from the list price and work down by a percentage. I work out what the home is worth on today's market, and then the list price becomes useful information of a different kind: the gap between those two numbers tells me how this negotiation is likely to go.
- Is the list price just the seller's opinion? — the short version of this argument
What I actually look at before picking a number
Six things, roughly in this order. None of them take long on their own. Together they usually move the number more than any negotiating tactic does.
- Comparable sales, not comparable listings. What similar homes nearby actually sold for in the last few months — not what the neighbours are asking. Asking prices tell you what did not sell yet.
- Days on market, and the listing's history. A home listed three weeks ago at one price and relisted today at another is a different negotiation than a genuinely fresh listing, even though both look new.
- Whether the price has already moved. A reduction tells you the seller has started adjusting. It also tells you roughly how fast.
- Condition and what it will cost. Poly-B, aluminum wiring, an aging roof, an unpermitted basement development. These are not just inspection items; they are money, and they belong in the number rather than in a renegotiation later.
- What else the buyer could buy. If there are eight similar homes available, the seller's position is weaker than if there are none. This is the single most underrated factor.
- Any signal about why they are selling. Not gossip — the listing itself often says. A vacant home, a quick possession date, an estate sale, a relocation.
Only after those do I look at the list price again and ask whether it is defensible. Sometimes it is, and the right offer is at or near asking. Saying so is part of the job.
- How a REALTOR® calculates an offer price — the mechanics, step by step
- How to tell if a Calgary seller is motivated — what the listing quietly tells you
- Is a price reduction a red flag? — usually not, and here is what it means instead
What the seller sees when your offer arrives
This is the part buyers never get to watch, and it changes how you would write the offer if you did.
The seller does not see your reasoning. They see a number, a possession date, a deposit, a list of conditions, and a deadline. That is it. Everything you worked out about comparables and condition is invisible unless your agent puts it in front of them deliberately.
They also see it in context. If two offers arrive, yours is being compared to the other one, not to the asking price. If none have arrived in a month, yours is being compared to the silence. The same number can be an insult on day two and a relief on day fifty.
A seller who has had no showings in three weeks and a seller who had twelve on the weekend are two different people, even if the listing looks identical from the outside.
The terms are leverage, and they are usually cheaper than money
When a seller is deciding between offers, price is the first thing they look at and rarely the only thing that decides it. Three levers move the needle without costing you anything:
- Possession date. If the seller has already bought somewhere and needs a specific day, matching it can be worth real money to them. It costs you nothing if your own timing is flexible.
- Deposit size. A larger deposit signals you are serious and financially able. It is your own money, held in trust, credited to the purchase — not an extra cost.
- The condition period. Ten days of conditions reads very differently than twenty-one. Shorter is stronger, but only shorten what you can genuinely complete in the time. Never drop a condition you actually need.
What I will not do is tell a buyer to waive a financing or inspection condition to win a house. That is not a negotiating tactic, it is transferring risk onto the person least able to carry it.
When a low offer is the right call — and when it costs you the house
A well-below-asking offer makes sense when the evidence supports it: the home is priced above what comparable properties are selling for, it has been sitting, and there is competing inventory the buyer would be equally happy with. In that situation the worst case is a counter, and a counter is a conversation.
It is the wrong move when the home is priced correctly and the buyer actually wants that specific house. Calgary is not a single market — a well-priced detached home in a tight community can see competition in a week where a condo two neighbourhoods over sits for two months. An offer far below a defensible price in the first situation does not open a negotiation. It tells the seller you are not a serious party, and the next offer gets taken instead.
The honest framing I give buyers: decide in advance what you would pay rather than lose it. That number is personal and it is allowed to be higher than the comparables suggest, as long as you chose it on purpose and your lender agrees the property will appraise.
- How much should I offer below asking in Calgary? — the direct answer, if that is all you need
- The seller countered. Now what? — what a counter actually signals
What changes when there is more than one offer
Competing offers change the exercise completely, and not in the way most buyers expect. The instinct is to raise the price. Often the better move is to remove the reasons a seller would choose someone else at the same number.
In a multiple-offer situation the seller is rarely comparing two numbers. They are comparing two levels of certainty: which of these is most likely to actually close, on the date I need, without coming back to renegotiate. A slightly lower offer from a buyer with financing genuinely arranged and a possession date that suits the seller beats a higher one that looks fragile more often than people believe.
What I will not do is let a buyer write a number they cannot defend to their lender. If the price runs past what the property will appraise for, the gap becomes cash the buyer has to find on possession day, and that is a problem that arrives after the excitement has worn off.
The other honest point: in a genuine competition, some buyers will lose. Deciding in advance what you will pay, and accepting that someone may pay more, is the only way to come out of it without either overpaying or feeling robbed.
- How a seller compares two offers — the same situation from the other side
- Which conditions belong on an offer — what to keep when you are tempted to cut
Where to start
Before you look at a single number, get clear on what you can carry and what you are willing to compete for. Everything above is easier when the financing is settled and the price band is real.
Then look at the actual market rather than the headlines. Our Calgary market statistics page tracks what is selling and how quickly, by property type and community, and it updates as the data does.
If you want a second opinion on a specific home before you write, that is a short conversation and we do it constantly. Bring the address and we will tell you what the comparables say — including when they say the asking price is fair.