--- title: "90% of Buyers Make This Offer Mistake. I Call It the 'Double Jump.'" description: "The 'double jump' offer mistake costs buyers $10,000+ every time. Here's the low-ball strategy that consistently saves money: one question changes the entire negotiation." author: Yan Zhu date: 2025-08-25 category: Guides url: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/property-offer-strategy-low-ball-double-jump-mistake tags: ["negotiation", "offer strategy", "low ball", "buying strategy", "Melbourne", "real estate agent", "first home buyer"] --- # 90% of Buyers Make This Offer Mistake. I Call It the 'Double Jump.' *By Yan Zhu, Co-Founder & Chief Data Officer at PremiumRea — 2025-08-25* > I've watched 50,000+ followers make the same offer mistake: blindly increasing their price when the agent says it's too low. One question changes the entire negotiation. Across my Chinese social media channels, I have over 50,000 followers interested in Australian property. And I can tell you that more than 90% of people — especially first-home buyers — make one critical mistake when submitting an offer. I call it the "double jump." And it costs them at least $10,000 every time. ## The double jump explained Here's how it plays out. You find a property listed at $780,000-$820,000. You submit an offer at $800,000. The agent calls back and says: "Thanks for the offer. The vendor thinks it's too low. You'll need to increase." What does the average buyer do? They panic. They increase by $10,000 or $20,000 — to $810,000 or $820,000. The agent says the vendor wants $850,000. The buyer meets them halfway at $835,000 and shakes hands. That buyer just paid $835,000 for a property they could have bought for $825,000 or less. Here's the mistake: they increased their offer without knowing where the vendor's actual expectation sat. They jumped blind. That's the double jump — adding money without information [1]. **The correct response when the agent says "too low":** "I appreciate that. I'm happy to increase — but can you tell me what price would make the vendor comfortable? I need to know the target before I can adjust." This one question does two things. First, it extracts information. You now know whether the gap is $10,000 or $100,000. If the vendor wants $850,000 and you offered $800,000, the midpoint is $825,000 — saving you $10,000 versus the blind double jump to $835,000. Second, it confirms the vendor has actually seen your offer. Some lazy agents don't present every offer to the vendor. By asking "what does the vendor want?", you force the agent to confirm they've communicated your offer [2]. If the agent won't give you a number and isn't engaging with your question, that tells you something too. Either there are better offers on the table (in which case your offer needs to be substantially higher or you should move on) or the agent can't be bothered — which suggests there are no other offers and you have more leverage than you think. ## The low-ball strategy that works When I buy for clients, my first offer is almost always a low-ball. Not insultingly low — but 5-8% below my estimate of fair market value. The purpose isn't to get accepted at that price (though it occasionally happens — about one in ten times). The purpose is to test the depth of competition and establish a negotiation floor [3]. I always accompany the low-ball with a message to the agent: "This is my opening offer. I'm prepared to negotiate, but I need to understand the vendor's position first. I'm a serious buyer with finance approved and can settle on your preferred timeline." That message tells the agent three things: (1) I'm real, (2) I'm flexible, and (3) I'm not going to disappear. Agents will engage with a serious low-ball far more willingly than they'll engage with a high offer from someone who might not have their finance sorted. The negotiation then unfolds over one or two rounds, always with me asking: "What does the vendor need?" Most of our client purchases settle at 3-5% below what the vendor originally hoped for. On a $750,000 property, that's $22,500 to $37,500 in savings — more than our entire buyer's agent fee [4]. > "My MBA professor said it best: in negotiation, the person with the most information wins," I tell clients. "Never increase your offer based on emotion. Only increase based on data — comparable sales and the vendor's actual position." The double jump is an emotional response. The low-ball-and-extract is a strategic one. Learn the difference and you'll save more on your next purchase than most people save in a year. ## References 1. [PremiumRea negotiation data: 'double jump' offer increases cost buyers $10K+ on average vs information-first strategy.](#) 2. [REIV Code of Conduct for Estate Agents. Agent obligation to present all offers to the vendor.](https://reiv.com.au/) 3. [PremiumRea buyer's agent strategy: opening offers 5-8% below estimated fair value, 10% acceptance rate on first offer.](#) 4. [PremiumRea client data: average negotiation savings 3-5% below vendor expectation, exceeding buyer's agent fee.](#) --- Source: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/property-offer-strategy-low-ball-double-jump-mistake Publisher: PremiumRea (Optima Real Estate) — Melbourne buyers agent