When sellers should stand their ground and when flexibility may help
If you are deciding how firm to be once offers come in, start by separating leverage from ego. In Valparaiso, IN, sellers still have support from low supply, but recent deal terms show buyers are negotiating rather than simply taking the asking price as final.
One number to respect from recent data is 96.2% of asking on recent accepted offers. That tells sellers to expect negotiation and to decide in advance where flexibility makes sense and where it does not.
This changes your plan because recent supply stood at 1.96 months, which supports sellers, but a typical sale still took 52 days last month. In Valparaiso, IN, the strongest stance is usually a prepared one, not a rigid one without a pricing strategy behind it.
Know your line. Decide it early. I recommend setting your minimum acceptable terms before the first offer arrives, clarifying which inspection issues you would address, and making sure your list price is defensible against recent closings.
Here is the constraint I plan around based on the previous 30 days active homes carried a typical asking price of $432,500 while a typical closed price was $345,000. That spread supports firmness only when the home and its condition truly justify it.
