With houses selling fast and more buyers looking around for the best deals, it’s easy to find yourself in a bidding war, with multiple home offers being made pushing prices even higher. How do you beat the competition in a hot housing market?
Here are a few tips that will help you find and buy the house that you want.
Do Your Research in Advance
To ensure you have the upper hand when searching for a home, you have to plan ahead. A smart home buyer does some research in advance, focusing on locations and neighborhoods that suit him or her. This way, when new house listings are available in the market, you’ll be among the first to know. You should also regularly browse through local real estate websites and sign up for email alerts. According to House Heroes, expert home buyers in Florida, a lot of people can throw around high numbers when it comes to buying a house – and have no intention to follow through.
Once you’ve found a website that meets your needs, move fast to secure the deal. Real estate deals can feel cutthroat and sometimes the best thing you can do is to get yourself an experienced real estate agent with extensive local expertise to help you get the best and newest listings as soon as they hit the market.
Have Your Finances in Order
To be able to close a home buying deal fast, you should have your finances ready. Smart home buyers thoroughly evaluate their finances even before they start looking around for a home to buy. Consider getting a pre-approval letter from your lender and up your chances of landing a deal by including a letter of pre-approval from your bank when making an offer.
It’s always a good idea to submit all your financing documents to your lender before you even start looking at homes and certainly before writing any offers. This way, you can easily finalize the buying process once you find the home that you want. A Huffington Post article on home buying tips notes that with your finances ready, you’ll be in a better position to move swiftly and make an offer once you find a home that meets your requirements.
Don’t Be Too Indecisive
One of the biggest mistakes that home buyers make is hesitating when they find a good offer. If the deal is what you’ve been looking for, what are you waiting for? Being too indecisive in the home buying process will only make you lose out on great deals. As long as you have prepared financially, you should go for the deal and make an offer immediately.
Any delays in making an offer will either result in somebody else making a better offer than you or increased prices. Do some research or consult a real estate agent to know about the pricing trends in your market so you can gauge how fast you need to move to avoid missing a good opportunity. You should also discuss the best-negotiating strategy with your agent in advance.
Make a Good Impression to Sellers
To avoid antagonizing everyone during the home buying process, be a good and easy buyer. You don’t necessarily have to offer the highest price or offer to pay for your dream house in cash to win a deal or a bidding war. What you want is to make a good impression to the seller by being strategic and smart in your moves and the decisions you make.
Schedule a home inspection right after making an offer, at least within a week of agreeing on a price. If there is a bidding war and you’re committed to getting the house, offer to pay the seller’s closing fees, but not the agent’s commission. Taking these steps shows the seller that you’re a serious buyer and may increase your chances of winning the deal.
Consider Writing a Letter to the Seller
It may seem odd, buy writing a personalized letter to the seller can sometimes work to your favor. In fact, according to a 2013 Redfin report, writing a personal letter actually increased chances of successfully landing a deal by up to 9% in 2013. Real estate agents also agree that drafting a simple, honest and heartfelt letter with a few family and pet photos explaining how much it would mean to you once you get the house definitely helps.
Seek Professional Help
Sometimes, a home buying process can be more complex than simply searching for available property listings, making an offer and finalizing a deal. Maybe there is a cell-tower sitting on the property, for which you’ll need to talk to an expert consultant that can help you with the cell tower lease negotiations.
Conclusion
With good research and an understanding of these simple tips, it’s easy to outsmart other homes buyers and get the dream home that you’ve always wanted.
