Anyone can pick a number. What moves a seller is the case underneath it: the comps, how long it has sat, every cut since day one, and what their own tax record says.
Where to open, where it should land, and the point above which you walk.
Three numbers out of one address: open at, land near, walk away above — with the comps, the seller's tax story, distress signals, how many rivals are circling, and word-for-word scripts. Tells you when you have no leverage.
An appraiser-style adjustment grid off recorded sold comps — size, age and condition via effective year built, and time since sale — then what the place is really worth.
One address in — owner and how motivated they look, FEMA flood picture, condition and age risk, and how the ask compares to county value. Works on off-market addresses too.
Not a screenshot of a slider. A written case with the comps named, the adjustments shown and every source cited, so your agent can put it in front of the other side without rewriting it.
We will not tell you what to pay. Distance to work, the school your kids would go to, how long you have been looking and what you are living in now all carry value we cannot calculate. The number is a floor for the argument, not the decision.
Two things that happen next.