10:15 AM - Good news! We have received an offer on your home. The offe

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

1.1 No. While it is true that $345,000 is 10% lower than approximately $383,000, it is unknown whether the "end up agreeing upon" price that the real estate agent suggests will happen is going to be that $345,000. It is more likely, from the rest of the emails, that the $345,000 counteroffer will settle at a price at least substantially lower than that, making the final price equal to more than 10% less than $380,000. Accordingly, we cannot determine whether the asking price is greater than or less than $380,000.

1.2 No. While the third email suggests that a mid-August closing date is important to the buyers, it does not necessarily indicate that such a closing date is more important than price. In fact, that very same email includes a firm rebuke of the $350,000 price point, suggesting that the final price of the home is a primary concern of the buyers.

2.1 Yes. The buyers have initially offered $300,000, so a 15% compromise for them would be $345,000. And the sellers' agent has noted that, at $345,000, the sellers would receive a price that at maximum would reflect a 10% reduction from their opening price. This puts the maximum offer price at $383,000, a price for which 15% off would be less than $326,000. Accordingly, any price between $326,000 and $345,000 would allow both buyer and seller to achieve a price within 15% of their initial offers. Strategically, note that, as $345,000 represents at worst 10% off for the sellers and also represents the full 15% compromise for the buyers, you can answer this without performing any further calculations. A 10% compromise by the sellers and a 15% compromise by the buyers satisfies the statement in this question, so we know that the possibility is true.

2.2 No. While the sellers' real estate agent seems more willing to drop prices in negotiation, it is not necessarily true that he will accept a lower price in the end. Email #2 mentions that the sellers are willing to counteroffer at $350,000 in part because that higher price gives them "room to negotiate" underneath, so we do know that the sellers are willing to accept a price lower than $350,000. And the real estate agent explains in Email # 3 that he feels that a settling price of $330,000 is possible. Because we do not know whether this price is considered too low by the sellers, we cannot determine whether either party's
intent is to sell for lower than the other is willing to accept, and this statement is not necessarily
supported by the given information.