Finding a home for your family that suits your needs, is in your budget, and is in an area that you want can be pretty difficult. Now imagine finding a home like that and you wanted to purchase it, but someone else beat you to it. These are some tips from a reader on how to ensure that your offer is one that the sellers cannot turn down.
Summertime is probably the best time to buy a house if you’re a parent because school is out of session and transferring the kids to a new school is going to be much easier than if they were to try to do it while school’s in session. But, the problem with trying to buy a house in the summer is that you aren’t going to be the only one.
According to the 2021 first quarter survey released by Homelight, 53.5% of agents say this summer is going to have more active buyers than in previous years. When you combine this prediction with the very real fact that 97% of real estate agents are saying it’s a very competitive seller’s market, getting a seller to accept your offer is going to be a little harder. The National Association of Realtors reports that properties that were on the market in February received four offers on average!
The name of the game is submitting an offer the seller can’t refuse and we have four tips that’ll put your offer at the top of the pile.
Clean offers for the win
The key to crafting an appealing offer that’ll catch the seller’s attention is to make your offer as clean as possible. What we mean by this is to leave out contingencies that could derail the transaction. These contingencies might regard financing or selling the home you’re in now first. There’s one contingency that you never want to leave out and that would be the home inspection contingency. It’s in your best interest to get that inspection because you don’t want to buy a property with expensive problems that need repairing! If you don’t mind making minor repairs, you could also use that in negotiations (if you choose).
Honor exclusions on the listing description
When you’re looking at property, you like some of the things the homeowner has. It could be appliances, furniture, outdoor equipment like grills and playsets. If the seller lists anything in the “exclusions” on the listing, don’t even waste time asking for it. Honor the seller’s wishes. If you absolutely love something the seller is taking with them when they move, you could ask them where they purchased the item. It may also flatter the seller and look more favorably at your offer.
Consider offering more than asking
Right now, 93% of realtors say many of their sellers are seeing so many offers on their houses that bidding wars are breaking out more now than ever. When you have a seller’s market that’s as competitive as the one we’re seeing now, it’s kind of expected.
However, you can make your offer more appealing by offering to pay more money than the asking price. Just be sure to stay within budget and to make sure you don’t go over budget, include an escalation clause. This clause basically says that you’re offering to pay X, but if an offer comes in higher than that, you’re willing to pay Y to outbid the other buyer.
Put down a larger earnest money deposit and down payment
When you’re purchasing a property, you need to put down an earnest money deposit to prove that you’re a serious buyer. Typically you’ll want to put down 1% to 3% of the purchase price. However, if you want to really show that you’re serious about buying the house, you could put more earnest money down and put down a larger down payment as well.
Get the home of your dreams with a winning offer
Normally, buying a house isn’t like a game of chance, but when the market is as competitive as it is now… You’re going to need to put your best offer on the table right away. These tips should help your offer stand out from the rest, but if you want to improve the chances your offer will be the winning one, ask your agent for advice.