Increase Your Chances of Getting The Home You Want

With so few homes for sale and countless buyers vying for the same property, bidding wars have become the norm and not the exception. Many buyers have put offers on over a dozen homes without landing the home they want.

So many buyers have put bids in on homes only to get the dreaded call from their real estate agent that the home has gone under contract with another buyer. Calls like these are happening everyday. If you're looking to purchase a house right now it can be exhausting.

Many will ask their real estate agent what they can do to increase their chances of winning the next time they find a house they want. Let's look at some of the things that can be done to strengthen the chances of success.

Offering More Money

Of course, it goes without saying that offering the most money holds a lot of weight in winning a bidding war. If you find yourself being outbid by a significant amount of money, you may want to try looking at less expensive homes. That way a higher bid will be more attractive to a seller and you won't be leaving your pricing comfort zone.

If You Can't Pay Cash Remove Your Financing Contingency

Paying cash offers a significant advantage over buyers who need financing. It removes many of the worries a seller has over a transaction falling through. The next best thing to offering cash is removing your financing contingency. Doing so if extremely risky. You will need to be absolutely certain you'll have no problem getting the loan. Otherwise, your earnest money will be in jeopardy.

Consider an Escalation and Appraisal Gap Clause

There are two clauses that are popping up more and more in many real estate contracts around the country. These two clauses have allowed many home buyers to land the home they really want. They are an escalation clause and an appraisal gap clause.

As escalation clause says that you will agree to increase your offer by a certain dollar figure over the highest bidder. There will also be a cap price you can set so that you don't pay something way out of your budget. The escalation clause often is what makes one offer stand out over another, especially when there are numerous bidders.

Another fear sellers have when they have multiple bidders on their home is the property not appraising. There will be a real estate appraiser who will put a fair market value on the property. With bidding wars becoming so commonplace it is not unusual for bids to come in at numbers that don't make sense.

The appraisal can easily fall short. The remedy for that is to have appraisal gap language. The appraisal gap guarantee will state the buyer is willing to cover any gap between the real estate appraisal and the agreed-upon sale price.

Give The Seller the Closing Date They Want

One of the more essential considerations in most home sales is the closing date. Make sure you find out when the seller desires to close and give them that date. You may also want to give the seller a rent back agreement if they have not found a home yet. Doing so could be the difference maker for a seller who does not want to make a double move.

All of these things are ways you can increase your chances of getting the next home under contract. Best of luck!