When most Los Angeles buyers begin searching for a home, they naturally focus on what is new.
A new listing hits the market, the photos look good, and there is an immediate sense of urgency. Buyers schedule showings quickly because they assume someone else may buy the property first.
I understand that instinct, but it is only one way to search for a home.
When I work with buyers, I often deliberately look in the opposite direction. I pay close attention to properties that have already been on the market for 60 days or longer.
Why?
Because one of the better opportunities in Los Angeles real estate can sometimes be the house everyone else has stopped looking at.
A property that attracted little interest at its original price may become increasingly negotiable as the weeks pass. The initial buyer competition may have disappeared. The seller may be growing more realistic. And the listing agent, after weeks or months without a sale, may be encouraging the seller to seriously consider an offer that would have been rejected when the property first came on the market.
That does not mean every older listing is a bargain. Some homes sit because they have significant problems. Others are still substantially overpriced despite months on the market.
But for a buyer who knows how to evaluate the property and negotiate intelligently, longer market time can create an opening that did not exist when the home was first listed.
I Don't Just Search for New Listings
One of the biggest misconceptions about buying a home is that the best opportunities are always the newest opportunities.
They aren't.
Of course I watch new listings closely for my buyers. If a well-priced property comes on the market in a desirable neighborhood and meets most of a buyer's criteria, we need to know about it quickly.
But I also regularly go back through the inventory and look at homes that have been sitting for 30, 60, 90 days or even longer.
Those listings interest me for a different reason.
I'm looking for a change in circumstances.
A seller who was unwilling to negotiate two months ago may feel very differently today. A property that looked expensive compared with competing homes may suddenly look more reasonable after those competing homes have sold. A seller may have already purchased another property, relocated, or simply become tired of maintaining a home that isn't selling.
Market time does not automatically tell us what a seller will accept. But it gives us a reason to investigate.
I often tell buyers that the list price is simply the seller's asking price. It is not necessarily the property's market value, and it certainly isn't always the price at which the seller will ultimately agree to sell.
This becomes particularly important with older listings.
What Changes After 60 Days on the Market?
The most important thing that changes is often not the house.
It's the seller.
When a property first comes on the market, the seller is usually optimistic. They have just prepared the house, reviewed comparable sales with their agent, selected an asking price, taken photographs, and launched the listing.
During those first few days, there may be open houses, private showings and considerable online activity.
A seller can easily interpret that attention as confirmation that the asking price is correct.
Then the weeks pass.
Buyers come through but don't make offers. Perhaps a few express interest but say the home is too expensive. Maybe one offer arrives significantly below asking and the seller rejects it.
Eventually the seller has to confront what the market is telling them.
This is why time can be such a useful negotiating tool for buyers.
At 60 or 90 days, the conversation between the seller and the listing agent is often very different from the conversation they were having during the first week.
Instead of asking, "How much over asking might we get?" the discussion may become, "What do we need to do to get this sold?"
That is exactly the kind of shift I am looking for when I direct a buyer toward an older listing.
Less Competition Can Mean More Negotiating Leverage
One of the biggest advantages of targeting an older listing is simple: you may not have anyone competing against you.
That can completely change the negotiating environment.
Consider the difference between making an offer on a desirable property during its first weekend and making an offer after the same house has been on the market for three months.
During the first weekend, several buyers may be interested. The seller may receive multiple offers. Buyers may be asked to improve their price or shorten contingencies. The seller has choices.
After three months, you may be the only serious buyer at the table.
Now you have choices.
This doesn't mean you can name any price you want. A seller can always say no. But you may be in a much better position to make a thoughtful offer below asking and see how the seller responds.
That leverage can sometimes extend beyond the purchase price. Depending on the property and the seller's circumstances, there may also be room to negotiate repairs, credits, closing timing or other terms.
For buyers struggling with Los Angeles affordability, this can be particularly meaningful. Affordability isn't simply about finding a lower-priced house. How the purchase is structured and negotiated can make an important difference.
The Listing Agent Can Help Move the Negotiation Forward
There is another dynamic that buyers don't always understand.
The listing agent represents the seller and has a fiduciary responsibility to that seller. But after a property has been sitting on the market for an extended period, the listing agent also has firsthand knowledge of how buyers have responded to the property.
They have heard the comments after showings.
They know whether buyers consistently believe the house is overpriced.
They know whether the seller rejected previous offers.
They know whether the current list price is generating activity.
And after 60, 90 or more days without a sale, a good listing agent is generally having increasingly candid conversations with the seller about what the market is saying.
This can be very helpful when I bring in a serious buyer.
If I make a reasonable offer below asking, the listing agent may recognize that this is an opportunity to finally put a transaction together. Instead of simply presenting the offer and waiting for the seller's reaction, the agent may advise the seller that negotiating with a qualified buyer makes more sense than holding out indefinitely for a price the market hasn't supported.
That doesn't mean the listing agent becomes the buyer's advocate. They don't.
But both agents may recognize that there is a workable transaction if the buyer and seller can find common ground.
This is one reason I like these situations.
Rather than competing with other buyers, we may be working with a listing agent who is ready to help move the seller toward a realistic agreement.
A Long Market Time Doesn't Automatically Mean Something Is Wrong
Buyers sometimes see 75 or 100 days on market and immediately ask the obvious question:
"What's wrong with it?"
It's a good question, but the answer isn't always that something is physically wrong with the house.
Sometimes the biggest problem was simply the original price.
A seller may have listed 10 percent above what buyers were willing to pay. That initial overpricing can cause a property to miss its most important period of exposure.
Buyers see the home, decide it is too expensive and move on.
Even if the seller later reduces the price, many of those buyers don't return. New listings continue appearing, and the older property gradually moves farther down the list of homes buyers are watching.
Other properties sit because they don't show particularly well. The furniture may make rooms look smaller. The photography may be poor. The landscaping may need attention. The house may have dated kitchens and bathrooms that cause buyers to underestimate its potential.
There are also homes with unusual floor plans, difficult driveways, limited outdoor space or other characteristics that appeal to a narrower group of buyers.
The important question isn't simply why the home has been on the market so long.
The important question is whether the reason it hasn't sold presents a problem for you.
A house other buyers rejected because the kitchen is dated could be an excellent opportunity for someone comfortable making cosmetic improvements.
On the other hand, a property with major structural issues or an impractical floor plan may not become a good purchase merely because the seller reduces the price.
That distinction matters.
I make a similar point in Is Buying a Fixer Still a Path to Affordability in LA?. A discounted property only represents value if the discount adequately compensates you for the work, compromises or risks you are taking on.
Sometimes the First Price Was the Problem
Overpricing creates an interesting opportunity for buyers.
Suppose a home comes on the market at $1.8 million when the recent comparable sales suggest its value may be closer to $1.6 million.
Buyers aren't necessarily going to line up to offer $1.6 million.
Many simply won't engage.
They assume the seller is unrealistic and focus on other homes.
After several weeks, the seller reduces the price to $1.725 million. Then perhaps $1.675 million.
At that point, many buyers make another mistake. They assume that because the property has already had two price reductions, the seller won't go any lower.
I don't make that assumption.
A price reduction tells me the seller has already moved from one position to another. It doesn't necessarily tell me where the seller's bottom line is today.
If the property has continued to sit after the reduction, I want to understand why.
What do the comparable sales support? What else can the buyer purchase at this price? How much work does the property need? How long has the seller owned it? Has the property fallen out of escrow previously? Has the listing agent indicated there is some flexibility?
Those details begin to tell us whether there is a negotiating opportunity.
The Asking Price Becomes Less Important Over Time
Buyers often become anchored to the list price.
If a home is listed at $1.5 million, they begin debating whether they should offer $1.45 million or $1.475 million.
But that isn't necessarily the right way to think about it.
My first question is what the property is worth.
If comparable sales and current competing listings suggest the property is worth approximately $1.4 million, the fact that the seller happens to be asking $1.5 million doesn't make $1.45 million a good purchase.
Conversely, if a home is listed at $1.5 million but I believe the evidence supports $1.55 million, buying it at asking after 70 days may represent very good value.
This is why I don't use a standard percentage for offers below asking.
The strategy has to start with the property, not the discount.
Buyers who want a deeper framework for looking at this should read Are You Overpaying for a House? How Los Angeles Buyers Can Evaluate Value in 2026. Negotiating a large discount feels good, but the percentage below asking tells you very little if the original asking price was unrealistic.
How Far Below Asking Should You Offer?
This is where experience and judgment become particularly important.
There is no automatic rule that says a buyer should offer five percent below asking after 60 days or ten percent below asking after 90 days.
I look at the entire history of the listing.
If a property started at $2 million, was reduced to $1.8 million and has now been sitting at that price for another month, I want to know whether $1.8 million is finally close to market value or whether the seller is still chasing the market downward.
I also want to know whether another buyer has recently shown serious interest.
Negotiating leverage can disappear quickly when a second buyer arrives.
Sometimes I may recommend making an aggressive offer precisely because there appears to be no competition. Other times, I may advise a buyer not to push too hard if I think the home is already priced attractively and represents a good value.
The goal isn't to win the negotiation.
The goal is to buy the right property at a price and on terms that make sense.
Those aren't always the same thing.
Older Listings Can Be Particularly Valuable When You're Flexible
This strategy works best for buyers who can look beyond the obvious.
If you only want the completely renovated house with perfect staging that just came on the market in one highly specific neighborhood, you are likely to compete with everyone else who wants the same thing.
But if you're willing to consider a house that has been overlooked, needs cosmetic improvements, has an unusual feature or simply began with an unrealistic seller, your options can expand substantially.
I've found that some of the most interesting opportunities emerge when we revisit properties a buyer initially dismissed.
Perhaps the seller has reduced the price.
Perhaps the buyer's budget has changed.
Perhaps we've seen enough other homes to recognize that the older listing actually compares favorably.
A home that didn't make sense at $1.7 million may look very different at $1.55 million.
And sometimes the asking price hasn't changed at all—but the seller's willingness to negotiate has.
That's the part buyers cannot see by scrolling through listings online.
The Best Opportunity May Be the Listing Everyone Else Has Forgotten
There is a tremendous amount of information available to Los Angeles home buyers today.
You can see new listings almost immediately. You can review sales history, price reductions, neighborhood information and estimated values. AI and online search tools make it easier than ever to gather data.
But finding opportunity still requires interpretation.
A home that has been on the market for 75 days is just a data point.
Understanding why it has been on the market for 75 days, what the seller may realistically accept, how the listing agent views the situation, what competing homes have sold for, and whether the property represents good value for a particular buyer requires a much more thoughtful analysis.
That's one of the reasons I regularly direct buyers toward properties that have been sitting.
I'm not looking for old listings simply because they're old.
I'm looking for a situation where time has shifted leverage from the seller toward the buyer.
Sometimes nothing comes of it. The seller remains unrealistic, the property has problems that don't justify the discount, or another buyer appears.
But sometimes we find exactly what we're looking for: a good property that the market overlooked, a seller who is finally ready to negotiate, and an opportunity for my buyer to purchase without having to compete against everyone else.
In Los Angeles, where buyers often spend months trying to make their budget work, those opportunities are worth looking for.
And sometimes the best deal isn't the house that came on the market yesterday.
It's the one that's been sitting there all along.
Homes sitting on the Los Angeles market for 60+ days can create negotiating opportunities. Learn how buyers can identify value and negotiate strategically.