I put a bid on a house and the seller countered. The seller didn't really come back with much of a counter. It looks like they just shifted money around in different areas. What are some good ideas on coming back with a counter-counter but still give the impression that I am serious about buying the house? I don't want to get the short end of the stick. Here is the scenario:
House listed for $300k. I offered $285k. County market value $294k. I offered to pay closing costs and eliminated the request for the repairs to be done (about $3-5k worth). The seller came back with an offer of $297k but wants 1% in earnest money - which is the the 1% that they lowered the house by and offered to pay $1k in closing. They also want to close in 30 days which will be hard for me to do because I was scheduled to be out of town that week, so I pushed it out to 45 days. Isn't this reasonable?
I am thinking that the seller isn't serious. Should I walk away?