Lowball Offer in NYC: The Blocklist Nobody Warns You About
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A lowball offer is generally one that’s 10% to 30% below the asking price. In NYC, it rarely works: sellers in co-op and condo buildings usually know their comps cold, since recent sales in the same building are public and easy to find. A lowball offer more often gets you ignored, or quietly blocklisted, than it gets you a deal.
We represent NYC buyers, and this is advice we often give, because the fantasy of scoring a place well below value is a persistent one. The reality here rarely matches it.
The number the whole building already knows is too low is exactly what a lowball offer usually is.
What counts as a lowball offer
Most definitions consider a lowball offer to be 10% to 30% under asking, a range that HomeLight’s own buyer-side guide independently confirms. What actually reads as insulting depends heavily on the building and the market. Our pillar guide to negotiating in NYC explains how a typical negotiated discount, usually 1% to 5% below asking, compares to this.
Sellers in dense buildings have an advantage most sellers elsewhere don’t. Recent comparable sales in their own building are often public record, easy to pull, and hard to argue against.
| Discount below asking | How it typically reads |
|---|---|
| 1% to 5% | A normal negotiated outcome |
| 5% to 10% | Worth backing up with comps, but plausible |
| 10% to 30% | Lowball territory, needs strong justification |
| 30%+ | Rarely taken seriously on a listed property |
How sellers react to a lowball offer
Not with a counter; usually with silence is the realistic outcome. New Yorkers tend not to respond well to what reads as disrespect, and a lowball offer can trigger exactly that reaction. We’ve watched buyers who genuinely would have paid more get frozen out entirely after opening at too low a price.
Once a seller feels insulted, some stop responding altogether, even to a stronger offer submitted later. A property that could have sold to that buyer at a fair number instead sells to someone else. Often it’s at close to what the original lowball bidder would have paid anyway.
Does a lowball offer ever work
Rarely, and never by accident, is the honest answer. It’s more plausible off-market, where there’s no competing interest driving the price, than on a listed property with other buyers circling. Even a genuinely motivated or distressed seller usually still knows the market well enough to recognize a lowball offer for what it is.
New development is the one exception worth naming. Sponsors are institutional sellers, not emotionally attached individuals, and tend to treat a low opening number as a business decision rather than a personal one.
How to make a low offer without offending the seller
The comps do the arguing; not your tone. That’s what separates a defensible low offer from an insulting one. If you genuinely believe a listing is overpriced, back it up with real comparable sales, not just a number that feels right to you.
Document the offer fully regardless of price. Include a pre-approval or proof of funds and a complete offer submission; a low, undocumented offer reads as even less serious.
Why co-ops make a lowball even riskier
A low price doesn’t help you if the board says no anyway, and that’s a real risk unique to co-op purchases. A seller weighing your lowball offer is also weighing whether your file will clear the board at all. A bargain-hunting buyer can read as a shakier financial profile even before the board gets involved.
If you don’t hear back after an offer, stay in touch with the seller’s broker rather than disappearing. A buyer who follows up reads as more serious than one who goes quiet, which matters if a stronger offer is needed later.
What we tell clients tempted by a lowball
The offer that gets you remembered for the wrong reason is exactly what an unsupported lowball becomes. We’d rather see a client open at a defensible number, backed by real comps. Gambling an entire negotiation on a number that might get them frozen out isn’t worth it.
As Georges puts it, “it’s all about the numbers and the execution,” and a lowball offer usually fails on the execution side before the numbers are even discussed. On an average purchase our commission rebate returns roughly $22,000 at closing, savings that don’t require gambling on an offer that offends the seller. Run your full numbers on the closing cost calculators to see what’s realistic before you make an offer.
Common questions
What is considered a lowball offer? Generally 10% to 30% below asking price, though what reads as insulting varies by building and market conditions.
Why don’t lowball offers work well in NYC? Sellers in co-op and condo buildings usually have easy access to recent comparable sales in their own building. That makes it hard to convince them their home is overpriced without real data.
Does a lowball offer ever make sense? It’s most likely off-market or with an institutional seller, such as a new development sponsor. On a listed property with other interested buyers, it rarely works.
How do I make a low offer without offending the seller? Back it up with real comparable sales, fully document the offer, and avoid a tone that reads as dismissive of the property’s value.
What happens if a seller ignores my lowball offer? Many go silent rather than counter. Some buyers report being unable to get a response even after later submitting a stronger, more reasonable offer.
Nicole Fishman Benoliel co-founded NestApple in 2017. She's a lawyer admitted to the New York bar - her law degree is from La Escuela Libre de Derecho in Costa Rica, with further study at IE Business School in Madrid and an LLM from Fordham in New York. She does not act in a legal capacity at NestApple; every client is referred to an attorney who handles real estate deals full time.
