What's it worth?

[98valk]

local for sale.
I took a look it.
'03 std 34kmiles  asking $4500, will take $4200
I offered $3k, too low? seller in denial of condition. need opinions.
Thanks

The Bad,
needs tires, runs rough been sitting since last yr, tank has deep 2" dia dent on the side, front fender bent, needs new gas cap gasket, partially missing.
rear fender section, moves around, rust spot where rear seat bolts to fender from movement,
one exhaust tail piece, dented/bent.
surface rust chrome joints crash bar.
both long exhaust chrome covers rotted thru in one spot. one short cover surface rust.
tank and seats weather from being left outside.
dented crash bar from removed highway pegs.
texas dealer label on rear fender.

The good
chrome side covers, shorter progressive shocks, small windshield
The good and bad,
national hard bags with chrome supports, one bag needs to be prep/painted.

[pancho]

You know the old adage,, something is worth what ever you can get for it. I would stick with the 3K offer and see what he says,,, if he turns you down, you can always up it to $3500. 

[John Schmidt]

I'd put together a list of necessary repairs just to get it "rideable" along with the estimated cost, then go back to him with your offer. He may well see his "diamond in the rough" is more rough than diamond at this point.

[Brewer]

Find another ride that either needs less work for the price.

[MarkT]

You can find better if you take your time.  All that corrosion implies a lot more of the same you can't see.  And implies negligence generally.  I found an excellent 97 Tourer for $4.2k with 26k miles on it last year, in excellent condition.  Just had a 1" dent on the left side of the tank - otherwise perfect.

[bigdanIA]

projects can be fun,  i would say that it depends on your expectations... if you want the project aspect of it and if you can get it for $3k then it might work out good.  the concern i would have is wrapping up more money into the project than what i could get a nice pristine bike that's ready to ride... 
last august i bought a '98 tourer with 61k miles on it for $5025 from a dealer, the only flaws were a couple scuffs on the bags...

my gut says that unless you want the project i'd keep looking...   and if you do pursue this particular bike i wouldn't come up on the price any, if at all...  there are too many issues to suit me.

[Gavin_Sons]

Needing that much work and TLC, 3k tops. I would have offered 2500.

[gordonv]

I think you've already gotten your replies.

The question to you, is do you want a cheap bike you can just ride. A project bike, you can get cheap and fix up/customize. Or do you want something you can ride and forget about?

I've seen IS asking as low as $4500, over the last year, in the US. I've seen reasonable std/tourers also asking $2-3K. Price out some of those items you think you need to replace, and deduct from the asking price, and see how much it might be worth.

In the end, it is only worth as much as someone will pay for it. If he isn't willing to fix it up for sale (running right), then to me, it shows how little he really feels about it's worth. So why should you value it any more?

[signart]

I'd say your about right if not on the high side if you want a project, and only if you want a custom. If you want  go back original, would easily cost twice that.
So, as one poster stated, look for better and put another 1200 with it, you'll be ahead.