Attention Buyers: How to Avoid a Bidding War on a home to buy

Bidding wars are hard on all parties involved. When you find a home that fits all of your requirements, make sure you write an offer quickly and make it attractive to the seller. The strategy is going to come into play when you are facing a bidding war and here are some ways to avoid those bidding wars as a buyer.

Make your first offer your best offer. Do your research before putting pen to paper. If you come up with comparables that justify the full price, offer full price. Don’t play around with the asking price. If there is a lot of interest in the property, put in an offer above the asking price as long as your pre-approval allows you to go that high.

Submit your pre-approval and proof of funds. Sellers want to see that you have the amount available for a downpayment. The lower your down payment is, the more the seller is going to question it. Sellers are usually looking for strong buyers and showing proof of funds helps to reassure the seller that you’ll be able to make up the difference if the house doesn’t happen to appraise at or above the mortgage amount.

Try to avoid contingencies whenever possible. Obviously, the necessary inspection and financing contingencies are okay but don’t go overboard when asking for small things to be fixed or paid for by the homeowners that are found through the inspection. Remove other contingencies and make your offer as clean as possible. If you do get into a bidding war, know your limit and don’t get caught up in the emotions of it. There are plenty of properties out there, move on to a different one if the bidding war goes above your price range.

Be as flexible as you can. Figure out when the sellers would prefer to close and write that in your offer to coincide with their plans. Helping take the pressure off of a sellers move makes your offer stand out and is more attractive to the seller. Especially if they have other circumstances going on.

Brought to you by the Chris Fritch Team eXp Realty 763-746-3997