4 Super Simple Ways to Strengthen Your Offer to Buy Your Dream House
You’ve found your dream home! Exciting! Now it comes to putting an offer on the house. But how can you be certain you’re putting your best foot forward? You also want to get the best deal possible, so, what can you do? First thing first is you should have already called me. You need to be Pre-Approved to put a strong offer in. Secondly, you should work with your realtor and I as a team to help give you advice on how to best present your offer and all of the details.
Here are 4 super simple ways to strengthen your offer:
Increase your earnest money
The more earnest money you give with your offer, the “more serious” it shows the sellers you are. I’m not suggesting anything specific. This is a conversation that is specific to each situation. However, I do know that many sellers trust that you wouldn’t give them a cashiers check for $5K if you weren’t serious. Think about the amount of your earnest money as the good will that goes along with your offer. If you weren’t serious, maybe you’d give them $500. Big difference in negotiating and presenting how serious and qualified you are.
Increase your down payment
If you are able. I understand in many situations, increasing the down payment isn’t possible. However, if you could, it would strengthen the offer. It’s just one more thing that shows the seller of your dream house that you are well qualified and very serious about buying their home.
Related: The 10 Commandments of Buying a Home
Get a fully underwritten pre-approval
In some situations, I can have our team of underwriters fully underwrite and pre-approve my clients before they put their offer in. This is a GREAT advantage that shows you’re very qualified to buy this home. It tells the sellers, “Hey, I’ve already been preapproved. The underwriters have already looked at 1,000 documents of mine, and I’m good to go.” This should put sellers at ease.
Closing Date and Date of Possession
If you can, make the closing date negotiable. Some sellers want to take their time packing their things. Others, want out as soon as possible. If you’re flexible, let them know!