Concerned about whether your offer will get accepted? Mark Crespi and Eric Wei give you five tips to help you land your dream home. It's Still a Seller's Market

Eric:

Hey, Mark. How's the market been?

Mark:

That depends, Eric, are you a buyer or a seller?

Eric:

Stay tuned for some tips for buyers. Number one on our list is pre-inspection. What's a pre-inspection, Mark?

Mark:

A pre-inspection is just a conventional home inspection, but conducted prior to placing an offer.

Eric:

Exactly. It gives you an opportunity to see what it is that you're getting into and potentially waive your home inspection when you're ready to place an offer.

Mark:

Right. And with these tight deadlines of Monday or Tuesday morning, sometimes time is of the essence and these inspections can be as quick as 30 minutes long.

Eric:

Number two on our list is increased earnest deposit. So what am I talking about here? We work with a lot of different sellers, and right now in this competitive market, I can tell you that when we get multiple offers, you become a column in a spreadsheet. All those dates and terms and conditions that you're putting into your offer are just lined up in a column in a spreadsheet.

Mark:

You become a number.

Eric:

Exactly. So what we can do to set ourselves apart is to increase your earnest deposit. So how many offers do you think you get normally, Mark, as a seller's agent that are just $1000?

Mark:

90% at least. No matter what the price point is too.

Eric:

Totally. So if we can set ourselves apart and come in with 5,000, 10,000, in the end, you're paying the same amount of money, but you're just putting a little bit more down upfront and you're showing some commitment.

Mark:

Commitment, strength, and it really sets you apart just one more way. Tip number three is paying seller's fees. So on the buy side and the sell side of a transaction, you have to pay closing costs. So one thing that we oftentimes encourage the buyer to do is to pay some of the seller's closing costs for them. Some of these would include paying for the attorney fees, stamp tax, random courier fees. It's really just a nice way to set yourself apart and to give the sellers the ease of something that they weren't even thinking about in the first place. Tip number four is writing a personal letter to the sellers.

Eric:

When it comes to writing a letter, things to keep in mind, you want to compliment the property, talk about all the nice updates and finishes that they have, how great the lighting is, the lovely neighborhood, and explain a little bit about yourself. And so why this is so important is because sometimes in a very competitive situation where offers are close, sometimes having a little bit of an emotional connection with the seller can help you out, give you that leg up. Number five on our list today is waiting out the market. The spring market is in full swing right now, buyers are out in full force. There's so many buyers. I mean, we don't even know where they're all coming from right now.

Mark:

I mean, and why wouldn't they, right? It's beautiful out. The trees are blooming. It's the perfect time to wait in line in front of a house when it's your turn to get in.

Eric:

But will it last, Mark?

Mark:

Historically speaking, no. Because right around Memorial Day, when things get really nice out and the weather gets hot and the beach season comes, everybody just wants to take a break and relax. This comes from several things, A, because either buyers are just fed up with placing offers and getting rejected, or B, they may have renewed their lease at time, or C, they may just want to enjoy the summer.

Eric:

Totally, and they forget all about the home purchase process. But a couple of warnings. One of them is that there might be lower inventory. So same note in terms of buyers not wanting to be as active, sellers don't want to sell at that point. They're in vacation mode as well.

Mark:

Exactly. With less competition may come less inventory.

Eric:

Totally. And one other thing to keep in mind is that we may potentially see higher interest rates at the end of the year. But it could still mean that you get your dream home, with less competition.

Mark:

Exactly.

Eric:

We hope these five tips that we've just shared with you are helpful in terms of getting your offer accepted. Until next time, stay tuned and stay focused.

Mark:

Stay tuned and stay focused.