We’ve had a lot of clients find the perfect home, only to find out someone else thinks it’s perfect, too. In these instances, it’s important to make your home offer more attractive to the seller.
If you’ve been looking into buying a home, you may have noticed terms like ‘seller’s market’ and ‘buyer’s market’. These terms are descriptions of the housing market, often based on the predicted number of buyers and homes for sale.
For example, 2017 was a seller’s market and experts expect 2018 to be one, too. Low inventory and high demand are what caused them to label 2018 as a seller’s market. One statistic that shows just how powerful a seller’s market can be is the following: In the peak buying season of 2017, 25% of homes sold in 2 weeks or less. [bctt tweet=”In the peak buying season of 2017, 25% of homes sold in 2 weeks or less.” username=”MTGSpecialists”]
Don’t worry though, we’re here to help make your home offer more attractive to sellers. That way when you find the home of your dreams, you’ll know just what to offer to seal the deal.
Be flexible on the closing date.
Flexibility on the closing date can be a huge bonus to sellers and won’t necessarily cost you any more money. Sometimes a seller is looking to unload their house quickly. If that’s the case, you can offer to close in just 2 weeks instead of the usual 45-60 days. You can do so by getting a title commitment.
If the seller wants to postpone the closing until they’re able to find a new home, you can offer to make the sale contingent on them closing on a new home.
Choose a conventional loan rather than an FHA loan.
Sellers don’t like FHA loans because since they’re government-insured loans, they have strict guidelines. For one, if the home is appraised for less than the agreed-upon price, the seller must reduce the selling price to match the appraised price. Their hands are tied – they either lower the price or list the home again. And if they do decide to list the home again, the appraisal stays with the property for 120 days.
The other major reason sellers don’t like FHA loans is that the guidelines require appraisers to look for certain defects that could pose habitability concerns or health, safety, or security risks. If any defects are found, the seller must repair them prior to the sale.
Strengthen your home offer.
There are a few other ways you can strengthen your offer without having to pay more than the listing price. A large earnest deposit is a great way to strengthen your home offer. Another way to strengthen your offer is to ask for little to none of the closing costs to be paid by the seller.
If you’re thinking about buying a home in the next 6-9 months, we’d love to chat with you and get you pre-approved. One of our favorite parts of the job is trying to figure out exactly which loan fits our client’s needs the best. Give us a call at (402) 991-5153 or email us at brent@mtg-specialists.com to get started today!
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