Lowball Offer on House

[w_gibbs]

I wasn't sure where to post this but you guys seem to be good at investing so hopefully you may have some insight. I am relocating and looking at a few houses. I already saw some places when I was at the new location for an on-site interview. Now I am going back down over the next few days to look some more and possibly make an offer.

I've taken the Danko and Stanley approach of looking for older homes in established neighborhoods. In the area of Texas I am going that means 1980s-built range. There is a 20-year old place with 4 bed, 3 bath. It is priced at $269,500. It was priced at $279,900 until about 2 weeks ago. The house has been on the market for over a year. My buyer's agent said he has seen the seller's disclosure and it did not reveal any problems, but the roof is the original (1987 built) and will need to be replaced. The house is exactly what I'd like and it is priced fairly compared to other places.

Regardless of how fairly it is priced, I would like to make a low offer because the seller may be inclined to come down on price since it has been on the market so long. Given the above facts, what would you offer?

I know there are plenty of other factors but I was trying to keep this as short as possible. I can elaborate if it would help you guys make a suggestion.