How do you know when your flip deal has flopped?

Had an incident with a flip property. The seller purchased the property at a steal of a price, did some fixing up and with each nail he must have been thinking that he could get more and more for that property --- and when he hammered that last nail and cleaned up the place - he was certain it was worth way more than what it was. So he set out to sell and not give in to anything lower than what he wanted.

When the appraisal came in -- it was lower than what this seller was asking for this property. OK he wasn't impressed with that appraisal and as you know with flips you must have 2 appraisals performed anyways. So the second appraisal came in low as well. He was so upset with the 2 appraisals - performed by two seperate appraisers. And he still would not come down on the price .... mind you we were in escrow at this time.

All I could see was "deal killer".... written in big bold letters. This seller forgot all about the fact that a property is only as vauable as the buyer thinks it is! Or at least what a buyer is willing to pay. New Horizon!

BTW: This seller was offering a $1000 bonus to the selling agent.... and at the end of the day, even that was lost to the negotiations to make close the deal. In the end, it was worth it in many ways because the buyer had a handicap and needed just this type of home and had been looking for over a year - so letting go of the bonus wasn't as painful as it could have been.

Now... I am leary of flip deals, especially if they offer a bonus that they are really calculating will be used up to make up the difference in the appraised value and what they are selling the flip for!!!! Sneeky and not funny trick.