Getting out there and purchasing the perfect house for you can be an ordeal. It gets even more complicated when the supply of homes is vastly outweighed by demand. Let’s do everything we can to put you in the best possible buying position with these 3 ways to buy your Atlanta dream home even in a seller’s market.
Keep Things Simple
When putting an offer in on a home in a competitive seller’s market, the last thing you want to do is weigh that offer down with a variety of contingencies and demands.
By keeping your offer free of these contingencies, you present a straightforward and earnest option for the sellers to quickly peruse. This will almost always have the effect of making your offer immediately more appealing compared to a similar offer with additional contingencies. This means dropping asking for personal property and home warranties and could even mean waiving inspections.
The important thing to remember is that there could be a requirement for a home inspection to be done under local or state laws. Additionally, a home inspection may be required by your mortgage lender as a condition for your loan’s approval.
We always think it is a good idea to go through with the home inspection to better understand the mechanics and condition of the property you are purchasing. However, there’s a chance that dropping the inspection could make a big difference to the seller.
Get Aggressive
Getting the ball rolling with a clear, stripped-down offer is an absolute must, but we can try to gain some leverage with a couple more tools.
First, including an escalation clause in your offer will present you with opportunities to beat the competition if things heat up. An escalation clause is part of your offer that says you are willing to beat any bids up to a certain value.
If another buyer swoops in and puts in an offer while your escalation clause is in place, you could end up rebuffing them immediately by having this escalation clause. This can get risky if you find yourself in a serious bidding war and maybe bungled your budgeting when figuring out your price ceiling.
Take your time to carefully consider at what point you need to jump ship on the bidding. A more direct way of aggressively disrupting the competition is to put in an offer that starts above the asking price.
It’s common for buyers to put in offers at – if not below – asking price, so coming right out of the gate above the asking price is sure to beat most of the offers in a seller’s market.
Stand out From Other Buyers
We’ve already created an offer that no sensible seller can refuse, but let’s look at a couple of frills that could also help.
Working with your mortgage lender to the point of receiving your loan pre-approval letter is a good way of showing the seller that you’re serious about purchasing their home and have secured funding to do so. Another way to prove your sincerity is by including a personal letter to the seller stating the reasons why this is your dream home.
In both of these cases, we are looking to add that little extra bit of individual flair to push the offer over the top. However, if you have the available means there is one way to usually bypass just about every hurdle: a straight cash offer.
Clearly, this option is only feasible for the minority of buyers, but not needing financing through a mortgage lender means skipping just about every obstacle outside of legal requirements, fees, and paperwork. It’s also very uncommon for a full cash offer to be presented, so any seller would have a very hard time passing that up.
Help Navigating a Sellers Market in Atlanta
If you’re looking to buy a home in a seller’s market and want a partner in the process, contact us today at (404) 977-5054!