Except that if you offer it for sale you have to accept any offer that comes in at your selling price - you can't legally reject a legitimate offer from anyone.
Not exactly true.
Unless the buyer is paying cash with no financing contingency and not asking the seller to share in any closing costs or transfer taxes...a seller can reject any offer less than full price.
This response is a little late, but I’ve been off FR and thought this deserved a reply.
You cannot LEGALLY decline any offer at asking price without risking a violation of federal housing laws. By acting as your own selling agent it’s possible to actually meet potential buyers when they visit the property, and by being personable it’s easy to strike up a conversation with the potential buyers.
Once you determine that you don’t like them, talking the property down to keep people from making offers is easy. Try: “Yeah, if you can stomach the high crimerate and tweakers in this area, the house is a good deal. I keep my cars and tools locked up, and my gun loaded, and have no problem with the neighborhood!” If the potential neighbors look to be potential gangbanger types, use: “This is a very safe neighborhood. The neighbors are very nosy, and we’ve got an excellent neighborhood watch program. Just last week some guy was walking down here we didn’t know and kind of looked suspicious, so Randy (the redneck down on the corner) confronted him and held him until the cops showed up. We had a tagger in here a few months ago too. We caught him and had him arrested.” Investors wanting to turn the place into a rental? “The house down the street was a rental up until a couple of years ago. The people on this street really didn’t like the renters, so they started calling code enforcement and complaining to the owner about every little thing they did. It took him a while, but he finally got sick of it and moved. I was thinking about renting this one out myself, but this neighborhood is such a hassle that I decided it’s easier to sell it.”
Then again, there’s one other very simple (and non-discriminatory/objectionable way) to accomplish the same thing. Mention that the house would be a great investment “with a little bit of work” (true in almost every home sale), and then refuse to permit a home inspection. When the selling agent asks why I won’t permit a home inspection, I can truthfully reply “Because California law requires me to disclose any structural issues with the house once they are documented. I’m selling as-is.” Most buyers will run at that point.
While I couldn’t directly refuse an offer, it’s not all that difficult to discourage people from purchasing it.
All of this is perfectly legal.