5 Offer Tactics Buyers Use to Win

It’s no secret, the real estate market is in a deep seller’s market due to lack of inventory. In Feb there were just less than 400k homes available nationally. When you consider, from 2016 to 2019 the avg amount of homes available in any given month was 1.3 million, we’re 70% short of normal inventory. That’s the challenge if you’re a buyer, but there are ways to increase your odds of winning, here are 5 of them:

1. Definitely make sure you are pre-approved. This is your stock advice, but it’s always your golden ticket. Bonus: having a lender willing to reach out to the listing agent on your behalf will create some differentiation.

2. Be as aggressive as you comfortably can. Are you going to pay more than the list price? Probably. Do you have to egregiously pay? Not necessarily. With the right research, you can strategize on making an aggressive offer in line with how the market is behaving on other sold properties in the area. Also, there are other terms you can push buttons on to set your offer apart, find out what’s important to the seller and align with what you’re comfortable doing.

3. Up the deposit amount and/or your downpayment. Show the seller you’re willing to put substantial skin in the game. 

4. Contrary to #3, allocate less towards downpayment and use that money to offset some of the seller’s expenses to net them more money or use to guarantee the appraisal.

5. Think outside the box. Get creative. Help the seller with moving costs. I had a buyer recently notice the seller was likely a “car guy”, so he offered his car, which he wasn’t using anymore and ready to sell, as part of his offer. I got the offer accepted by the way!

All of this seems over the top, but it’s the market conditions we’re working with right now, so we can lament about it or we can acknowledge it, move forward, and win. Contact an agent today with any additional questions you might have and we'd be happy to answer them.