It may be a buyer’s market in real estate now, but competition can be stiff for desirable properties. What do you do when you’re faced with competing bids from other families hoping to buy the property that you have your eye on? Having enough money to make a standout offer can certainly give you the inside track. If you don’t have such resources at your disposal, however, there are other strategies that you can pursue.
Make them see you are likely to close
While every family selling a home does care about finding the best offer possible, they also care about a quick sale, rather than a drawn-out one. They know that low appraisals, unfavorable inspection reports and mortgage denials tend to cause promising offers to drift away. Showing how your offer is immune to these problems can make it more attractive than even higher-priced offers by other buyers.
Certainly, making a high down payment or offering an all-cash deal can put you at the top of any seller’s list. According to Gershman Mortgage, St. Louis, a leading mortgage lending firm in the region, heading in with a mortgage pre-approval can be nearly as good. It’s the first step that you need to take before you put in an offer.
There are other ways to dress up your offer. Working on a very short contingency period is an excellent idea, for instance. All you need to do is to arrange to have all inspections and appraisals over with before you put in your offer, so that there is as little delay as possible. If you are satisfied with the results of your inspections, you can even offer to buy the home as is. The term as-ison an offer can be an attractive draw to any seller.
Put down far more earnest money than anyone else
The more earnest money you are willing to put down early in the process, the more likely you are to impress a seller. While it can be hard to do this before you have inspected a house, it can still be a good bet to try the idea if you are confident in the value that a home presents. To a seller who sees an actual sum of money waiting for them, it can be too tempting a thing to turn down.
Get sentimental
If your offer falls short of other dependable offers by tens of thousands, there’s usually little that you can do to change the seller’s mind. If the difference is a smaller one, however, a little well-placed sentimentality to your approach may work.
Meet personally with the owners, and show them what decent folk you are. Carefully and poignantly put down your thoughts in a letter. Write about why your family has fallen in love with the home, and why it’s exactly the right place for the future that you see for your loved ones. You can even throw in a word about how you are likely to be accommodating with something like a need they may have to stay on after the sale.
Everyone gravitates towards good, friendly people. Good PR can help put your offer over the top.