Top strategies to get your offer accepted

Due to the low inventory, today's real estate market is extremely competitive. Buyers are finding themselves in multiple offer situations over and over again and getting frustrated at the process. So we have created this short video on strategies top agents are using to pull out all the stops and get their client's offers accepted. 

1.) The escalation clause is one of the most common strategies investors and Realtors use to win in bidding war scenarios. It is a simple statement saying the buyer is willing to pay the "X" amount over the highest offer price. For example, a home is listed for 200k and gets inundated with offers, a paragraph in your offer would stipulate that the buyer agrees to pay 1000.00 dollars above the highest offer not to exceed 250k. I'm sure there may be other variations of this clause, but you get the point. 

2.) waving inspections pulling out one of the stops and objections to the offer. You as the buyer can still do an inspection, it's just not a stipulation of the contract. Again this may not be the best approach for a first-time home buyer, but if your financing, depending on your type of loan, an appraisal will cover many of your main issues. Of course on who covers the cost of the repairs is negotiable, but if you want a favorable interest it is best to stipulate buyer will cover the cost. In a normal market, the seller would pay for any required repairs.  

3.) quick closing is always a bonus for the seller. The transaction is not complete until money exchanges hands, and anything can happen in the meantime. So needless to say if the home is vacant this can be ideal, but if the home is occupied this can be a little more complicated, as in today's market and situation you would not want to acquire the property occupied, due to the moratorium and difficulty of getting someone out during this pandemic. 

4.) Conventional or cash over FHA or VA Many cash offers may take preference to any type of financing, however, many cash investors feel because they are offering cash they can offer less. Im not sure how applicable that is in today's market, but the next best thing to cash is conventional financing. Conventional financing is usually where the buyer may be putting a little more money down in return for fewer restrictions in the financing. FHA and VA are the most stringent regarding the appraisal and restrictions on the financing.  

5.) Pay your own closing and title transfers is customary in some markets. In some cases, this is negotiated for either party to pay all the closing fees. Another buyer incentive may be to pay these fees. Closing fees usually run about 1% of the transaction amount. This figure may fluctuate in different markets. 

Although these strategies may not be for every buyer, they are the strategies that are winning the bids. Hope this was insightful and check out our blog on Where Has All the Inventory Gone with strategies on high to know how much to offer over the asking price. 

For a free home evaluation tool check out www.whats-my-home-worth.net