House hunting is arguably the most enjoyable part of the homebuying process, though it usually requires a great deal of patience until you find a home you love. In a hot real estate market, it also means that when that moment comes, you will need to act fast and be ready to write a check. To make sure you are ready to put in your best offer on the house of your dreams, have a look at these tips.
Bring your team to the table – A good real estate agent can help you navigate and ensure a favorable purchase contract while a loan officer can issue you a pre-approval letter. A pre-approval is as close as you can get to showing your credit worthiness before locking in your mortgage and shows sellers that you have the wherewithal at your disposal to buy the property. This will give you an edge over all other buyers without a pre-approval letter as sellers will know that you are serious about your offer and qualified to go through with the purchase.
Do your research – Make sure to think through your must-haves in a home as well as desired neighborhoods and share them with your real estate agent. A proactive agent will use comparable sales (commonly referred to as “comps”) to present a comparative market analysis (CMA). This collection of comps will account for location, square footage, condition of similar properties, and many other elements to arrive at an estimate of the home’s fair market value.
Negotiate – When you make an offer, your real estate agent will put together a contract that contains all of the items that will act as a benchmark for the final agreement. This document will lay out the offer price, down payment, earnest money, closing costs, closing date, and other contingencies. If the seller is not quite satisfied with the buyer’s initial bid, they will likely make a written counteroffer with changes they deem suitable, which may include the sales price, the removal of certain contingencies, a greater earnest money deposit, or a different closing date. Each time the terms of the offer are changed, the other party has the option to accept or reject. Once both parties agree and sign the acceptance to a proposal, the document becomes a binding contract.
Purchasing a new home can be a thrilling yet sometimes stressful experience. The Sharpe Mortgage Team is here to take as much of stress out of it and answer any questions you might have. If you don’t yet have a real estate agent, we would be more than happy to suggest a trusted agent who can help you. Call us at your earliest convenience so we can work together to make your dreams of owning a new home a reality.
