Rosemead: Bought $119,000 Under Asking, Plus a $21,600 Credit
· Case study
A 15,631-square-foot lot listed at $1,199,000 and bought for our client at $1,080,000 with a $21,600 seller credit. A debrief on how the number was reached.
A house in Rosemead, a 1950-built ranch-style home with three bedrooms and one bathroom in 1,200 square feet on a 15,631-square-foot lot at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, listed by another brokerage at $1,199,000 on October 3, 2024, was bought by a client of Shirley Tang Team. The contract was signed on November 26, 2024, after 54 days on the market, and the purchase closed on January 10, 2025 at $1,080,000, $119,000 below the asking price, 90.1% of list, with a $21,600 seller credit toward the buyer's costs and a conventional loan.
Buyer-side cases name the city only, not the street address, to protect our client's privacy.
A negotiation debrief, in the order the decisions were made.
What the buyer was really buying. Not a 1,200-square-foot house with one bathroom. A 15,631-square-foot lot at the end of a cul-de-sac, with the room to add units later. Once that was clear, the house itself stopped being the point of the negotiation, and the price of the land became the point.
What the market was saying. The listing had been on the market 54 days when the offer was written. Fifty-four days is not a failure, but it is information: the asking price had been tested and the buyers who had seen it had not agreed with it. That fact was the foundation of the offer.
The number. $1,080,000 against $1,199,000 asked. Not a lowball, which gets ignored, and not a polite trim, which gets countered back to the asking price. An offer that far from asking only gets a serious reply when it comes with a reason, and the reason we use is always the same one: the comparable closings, here for lots of this size in Rosemead.
The credit. On top of the price, a $21,600 seller credit toward the buyer's closing costs. Credits are where a buyer's agent earns their keep in the second half of a negotiation, after the price is agreed and the inspections have been read.
The loan. Conventional financing, closed 45 days after contract, on January 10, 2025.
If you are buying in Rosemead, San Gabriel or Temple City and want an offer written with a reason rather than a hope, text (626) 202-9573 (text preferred) or add us on WeChat. No charge to talk it through.
This is the record of one real transaction. Every home and every market is different, and nothing here is a promise about any other property.