With many of our market’s being considered a ‘seller’s market,’ many buyers can feel as though they’re at a disadvantage when they’re making an offer on a home. So while we can’t control the environment, we can make sure that you, as the buyer, are in the best position possible when making an offer on a home.
Here are my 3 tips for making your offer as attractive as possible so you feel confident as a buyer.
1. The first, and probably most important one, is to be fully pre-approved. This means more than just submitting an application online and getting your credit checked. It also includes providing documentation to support what you’ve said inside of the loan application. And ultimately and ideally, having that reviewed and approved by an underwriter. That means you get the stuff you can control about the loan out of the way and you can feel confident about your final loan approval.
2. The second thing is to provide a higher due diligence or earnest money. Earnest money is an amount that you put down to show you are serious about purchasing a home. It is also known as a good faith deposit.
This can definitely feel like a gamble because you’re going into a contract without necessarily knowing what’s going on with the home and you’re putting a larger amount of money on the line. But, this does demonstrate your confidence to the seller in being able to close on that home.
3. The third strategy is to offer a faster closing timeline. Typically, in most scenarios, a 20 day closing time is not going to be reasonable in our current environment. But, 30 days can be and we can always back that closing date up and close sooner as long as you and the seller are agreeable to it. By getting as much of your information out of the way upfront, the process can move faster and you’ll be able to satisfy both the tenets of the contract and demonstrate to the seller you are a leveraged buyer.
So please remember that your realtor and loan officer are here to work together to help you close on your dream home.
If you are interested in showing up as a confident and serious buyer for your dream home, you can get in contact with me by emailing (rebecca.richardson@wyndhamcapital.com) or finding me on Instagram (@the.mortgage.mentor).