A low-ball offer feels personal, but it rarely is. It's a negotiating tactic — common in a buyer's market — and with the right approach, it can be the start of a real negotiation rather than the end of one. What most sellers don't realize is that the deal often gets derailed not by the buyer or the seller, but by an unskilled agent on one side of the table. Knowing the difference between a serious low offer and a fishing expedition, and having someone who can negotiate either one effectively, is what separates a seller who walks away frustrated from one who walks away with a strong number. Ty Lacroix, Broker at The Envelope Real Estate Group, has negotiated hundreds of London transactions and seen every version of how a low offer can go right — or badly wrong.
If you're selling your home, there's nothing quite like the gut punch of a low-ball offer. You've priced your property carefully, presented it beautifully, and then — wham — someone tosses out a number that feels like an insult.
Here's the thing: low-ball offers happen, especially in a buyer's market. They're frustrating. They don't have to be deal-breakers. With the right strategy and the right person negotiating on your behalf, a low offer can become the start of a real conversation instead of the end of one.
What Exactly Is a Low-Ball Offer
Pretty much what it sounds like: an offer significantly below your asking price — typically 10% to 20% lower, sometimes more.
Buyers do this for a handful of reasons. They want a deal. They're testing your flexibility. Occasionally they're simply hoping to get lucky. Low-ball offers often arrive with sweeteners designed to make them more palatable — a fast, cash-only close, fewer conditions, such as waived inspections or appraisals, or repair requests and credits built in to justify the lower number.
From the buyer's side, it's a strategy — or, more often than buyers would admit, it's based on a misread of the market. For the seller, it feels deeply personal. It doesn't have to be.
A Real-World Example
Say you list your home for $800,000 — priced right for the market, in excellent condition, in a desirable neighbourhood. Then someone offers $700,000.
Why would they do that? Market conditions might be giving them the confidence to push. They may see, or invent, flaws to justify the discount. They might genuinely love the house but can't quite afford the full ask, and they're hoping you'll meet them somewhere in the middle.
What that means for you: not every low offer is an insult, and not every low offer is serious. The skill is in quickly telling the two apart, without letting the emotion of the first number derail the whole negotiation.
The Agent Factor
Here's what most sellers don't realize: in many deals, it isn't the buyer or the seller who derails the negotiation. It's the agents.
Every offer is reviewed and presented by two people — the buyer's agent and the seller's agent. If one of them lacks skill, or lets their ego take over, the deal can implode before it ever has a real chance.
A skilled negotiator reads the other agent's style without getting rattled by it, keeps the conversation productive instead of personal, and knows how to turn a weak opening offer into a constructive back-and-forth rather than a standoff.
Not all agents are skilled negotiators. Honestly, most aren't — and after selling hundreds of homes in London and the surrounding area, I've seen every version of how that plays out.
Five Agent Types — and How They Sabotage a Deal
The Ghost. Disappears the moment it's time to actually talk numbers.
The Bulldog. Pushy, combative, and convinced that "winning" the negotiation is the entire point — even when it costs their own client the deal.
The Rookie. Nervous, inconsistent, and leaning hard on a script because they don't have the experience to negotiate off one.
The Bluffer. Manufactures a false sense of urgency and bends the truth to pressure the other side into moving faster than the facts justify.
The Performer. More invested in the drama of the negotiation than in actually closing the deal.
What that means for you: most lowball offers don't come from an unreasonable buyer. They come from an agent who hasn't done their homework, or who believes a tactic worked once before so it'll work again. Show them real comparable sales data, and you'd expect that to settle it — instead, you often get dismissed, because for some agents, ego beats facts every time.
No amount of staging, professional photography, or drone video saves a sale if the person negotiating on your behalf can't actually negotiate.
How Sellers Can Protect Themselves
Expect low-ball offers. They're part of the process, not a sign that something's wrong with your home or your pricing.
Don't take the first number personally. It's rarely the final one, and reacting emotionally to it gives away leverage before the negotiation has even started.
Make sure the person representing you genuinely understands negotiation — not just sales tactics, open houses, and signage. The numbers don't lie, but how they're presented and defended at the table determines whether you walk away with a price you're happy with or one you settle for out of frustration.
If you're selling in London and you want someone who can handle more than the marketing — someone who can actually manage the negotiation when a number lands on the table that doesn't feel right — that's exactly the conversation to have.
What will buyers actually pay for your home — and who's going to negotiate on your behalf when the offer isn't what you hoped? Reach out for a private conversation — no pressure, no pitch.
