I will attempt to answer this as soon as I can pick myself up off the floor. 

Keep in mind, all real estate in local.  Low balls just don't work in my market when a modest 3 bedroom home listed at $950K sells for $1.2M.  
I am sure there are agents in the Rain that work in markets where lowballs can be effective. 

"Reasonable" is in the mind of the person doing the reasoning. We can run the numbers and crunch them all day long and it does not mean someone else will see it.   

Give them everything else they want.  With every transaction I ask the listing agent, "Beside the price, what else is important to your client?"  

Sometimes it's a few things, like staying in the home until school is out, or taking some plants, or wanting the home to go to someone who will appreciate what they did in the garden....  Once I know the intangibles, I discuss with my buyer and make sure we hit as many as we reasonably can.  

Actually I will email you an article I wrote for Yahoo News a million years ago about how to make an irresistible offer. I gotta find it.
Everything's about give and take. Can you give something of value to the seller that would offset the lack of dollars in your deal?
Can you make your deal hard as a rock? Non-refundable earnest money? Waive inspections, waive financing contingencies, waive appraisal, come in with extra cash if it doesn't appraise?
(I advise buyers against such things unless they are absolutely married to the desired outcome, come what may)
SOMETIMES those things make a difference. But timing is important.
If you're in a market where others are going to come in higher than you and offer similar assurances, then your timing is off and you need to attempt that offer in a different market or cycle.

If you make a low-ball offer you had better be able to justify it.  Not every seller has an agent that can talk their seller off the "offended" cliff. Then your offer goes in the trash and they vow to never accept ANY offer from you or your buyer.   Having a good relationship with other agents is a big key.  I find presenting offers in person helps but that is not always (now days maybe rarely) possible.  I suggest you make a reasonable offer instead of wasting everyone's time. 

In our current marketplace, no amount of cajoling will turn a lowball into a successful sale.

However, sharing the data that helped your buyer arrive at the price offered in a different market, will quite often work. 

Ricardo,

I agree with Carol Williams.  It depends on the marketplace, and market conditions.  There is a difference between a low ball offer and what we referred to as "bottom fishers".  Those are the offensive ones.  I had one of those, and he insisted on being part of the presentation.  

My client crumpled the offer into a ball and threw it at him.  And since he was an influential real estate developer, he told everyone he knew about this agent's stupidity.  The agent moved to SF and now works as a barrista.

A 

Cash with no contingencies and quick close.  And include a personal letter from your buyers in which they let the seller know about them and how much they love the seller's home.

A Low-ball offer gets you kick out of competing for a property in my area.  

Lots of questions. Lots of listening. Pro1 a conversation with the listing agent. Being in "tune" with your market.  The right combination of timing and events. 

There ae overpriced properties on market, so I always figure value by doing the same thing I would do is a listing agent. If i come up with $450,000.00 as a suggested list price if i was sellers agent, but the current list price is $539,000.00, then an offer close to $450,000.00 is not really a low ball offer. It's only perceived as lowwball by listing agent and sellers.

Candice is right.... when you want something, you give something in return..... i.e., if you want a sale contingency in your offer in a buyer;s market, you give the seller the full price or above it.... 

in this market, you don't have a shot with a lowball offer because there are 10 other offers on the table with good terms and conditions and an above list price!!!!

     In our present market:

          Target a property that has been on the market a long time. 3 or 4 months minimum.   Cash offer, enough to pay the mortgage, the commission and closing costs, and have a few grand left over.  Short inspection contingency, we just want to be assured that the house is structurally sound.  With respect, this is not the price that you are asking, but it is a cash offer, and you can put this behind you and walk away with money in your pocket.  

I honestly try to get my buyers to make an offer that reflects market value by doing a CMA at the time of the offer.  Inventory is thin and you have no chance otherwise.

It is up to the seller. Sometimes a letter of explanation will help and sometimes a letter from a loan officer about maximum qualification. Each situation is different!

Have a well qualified purchaser with no contract conditions.

All cash, no contingencies, close within 7 days, sellers can take whatever they want.

You have some great answers.

Ricardo Mello Thanks for the question; you have received several good answers.

Simplicity in terms and flexibility on closing dates usually win.

Ricardo Mello it depends on the property, the area, and if it is appropriate.

I taught a new agent class the other day and showed them how many "expired" properties "leave" the market per month. This was in reponse to an agent saying their buyer can't find a property for their first time home buyer. I then pulled up homes on the market from 30-90 day and 90 to 180 days. There are 200 properties on market for 30-90 days. Of those 200 homes 26 had price reductions from $20,000 to $120,000! "Low Ball"? "Reasonal low ball?" They are already there for the taking in our market. And if you don't think we're a "hot" market our Month's Supply of Inventory is 1.7 months with a Days on the Market of 38 days!   Homes on the market for 90-180 days numbered 87 days with some price reductions raning from $150,000 to $29,000. 

"Lowball" implies below value, under market, take advantage of seller.  With that definition in mind I say ... in most markets and most situations, don't waste your time. 

We received an offer that would be considered a low offer and close to a low-ball offer since the buyer wasn't going to budge.  The longer we didn't receive an offer the closer the the sellers were to working with them. These sellers needed to be in escrow within a week or they would lose their new home purchase.  We received an offer just in time.  The strategy of making an offer and sitting tight works for someone with patience and no urgency.

A lowball offer won't work in our market except perhaps at the high end, although it's hard to know what you mean by lowball or what your market is like. Cash and a quick close, with few contingencies, could possibly work depending on the seller. Have you had a conversation with the agent to find out what's important to the seller about timing, etc.?

It depends on the current market. Here in California especially in the San Francisco bay area and silicon valley, all homes are selling way above asking with no contingencies. In this market, there are no reasonable lowball offers, prepare a CMA and show it to your buyers, so they are informed of what is going on in today's real estate market, then you should submit a competitive offer, not a lowball offer. Otherwise, you are wasting your time.  Good luck with your lowball offer.

We have such a strong Seller's market, lowball offers do not work, no matter how you present them.  Unless no one else wants it.

No such thing as a reasonable lowball offer.  Lowball implies that it's way under.

A low-ball offer is not a reasonable offer...by definition.

In our market that does not work.

Hire Houdini

If the comps dont come close to list, all things considered ( ie condition etc)
I will include a note as to the why it is low... Often  have buyers offer to put a larger Escrow deposit to show that they truely are serious ...shorten inspection period  etc etc

couple options most commonly used is waive inspection and financing contingencies

CASH, Quick closing and no contingencies. Of course you need a seller who needs to see quick and is able to sell for the price you offer. 

Dan Tabit nailed this one!

CASH

If it's reasonable, it's not a lowball offer, as far as I'm concerned.

Invalid question.

Reasonable and 'lowball' do not exist in the same action simply be definition. Lowball means EMBARRASING to buyer and offensive to the seller.

Reasonable suggests the offer reflects the condition. That is different than the profiteering objective of 'lowball.'

How does one make lowall predation work?

Disguise it as a quick and easy solution to the seller who has one nerve left and the government is standing on it. 

They do not work

Ricardo Mello - they don't go hand in hand, Ricardo.

'Reasonable' and 'lowball' are an oxymoron. 

Assuming that a 'lowball' is an offer below market price, then it takes a seller willing to sell at less than market price, meaning willing to leave money on the table. 

Why a seller would want to do that, I don't know. 

I tell my clients that if all the plan on doing is lowball offers they need a ne agent

Lowballs don't work in my area either. Reasonable and lowball usually aren't used in the same sentence.

The times I have been successful Ricardo Mello I've attached kind and gentile explainations to the offer so that the Seller has to see it. Telling (verbally) the Sellers agent that this or that sucks never flys.

Wait for the market to shift.

If it has been sitting on the market for some time. needs work and has a funky floor plan then sure...go lowball it.

Every else better be a good offer...

Eve

Validate it with comps or don't bother in a seller's market.

I'd like to know the answer as well, haha. 

In a hot market, lowball offers are not what enthuses sellers... they want a good price and no contingencies... and guess what... more often than not they get them!

Don’t ask for anything but price. Keep it simple.