We have a Mortgage / Real Estate Question and Answer weekly, today’s question was: ‘Some things that you can do to help your offer stand out among the other offers is?’ Great question!
How To Get Your Offer Accepted
That is a very relevant question in today’s hot sellers’ market! So today we’re going to discuss how to get your offer accepted in a sellers’ market. Our clients have used the following strategies to help their offers stand out:
- Use a Property Specific Pre-Approval – this allows you to negotiate on price and lets the seller know you’re pre-approved for their specific home
- Write a Love Letter – tell the seller what you love about their home and your reason for buying (note: some agents/sellers ask that love letters not be included with offers – makes for an easier decision – discuss this option with your agent)
- Use Conventional Financing if possible – Conventional loans are not as strict with the home’s condition as government loans (FHA, USDA, and VA)
- Put down a larger earnest money amount – This gives the seller a warm fuzzy knowing that if you back out for no reason, they get to keep the earnest money deposit
- Put down a larger down payment – Sellers feel more confidence in financing being secured with larger down payments
- Include an escalation clause into your offer saying that you will go over the highest offer by $_____ amount (ex. $1,000) up to $____ (your max purchase price for that home) (Discuss this strategy with your agent as it can have mixed feedback)
- Offer to pay the difference (or a portion of the difference) if the appraisal comes in low
- Accommodate the seller on their preferred closing date
- Offer the seller a rent-back if you have to close at a different time
- Structure your mortgage so you can offer more to the seller for the same monthly payment
- Evaluate a home inspection – some people are forfeiting home inspections to get their offer accepted, but a safer alternative that some inspection companies are offering is a scaled-down pre-offer inspection service; with those, they’ll walk through the home with you before you make an offer and point out potential concerns
- We personalize strategies with our clients, if you’d like to know how we can help get you into the home you want, contact us, your local mortgage broker!
We hope this article helped determine how to get your offer accepted this year, as always if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!