There’s a lot more than just dollar signs to making a strong offer on a house. Consider these tips to potentially edge out your competition.
What Could Make a Strong Offer?
- Pre-Approval: Not only does a pre-approval show sellers you’re qualified for financing, our Priority Purchase Speed Team verifies your income, credit, and other factors to get you a fully vetted offer that’s harder to turn down.
- Pay Closing Costs: Don’t nickel and dime the seller with conditions or stipulations when it comes to closing costs. The less help you ask for from the seller, the more likely they are to accept your offer.
- Make an Earnest Money Deposit: Earnest money is a good faith deposit—it tells the seller you’re serious about buying the house and are willing to put down a certain amount to prove it to them. (Note: If you back out of the sale and it’s not within a contingency on the contract, you could lose your earnest money.)
- Add an Escalation Clause: Offer to increase your offer by a certain amount if you’re outbid. You set the limit of how much you’ll increase the offer, so you won’t get in over your head, and the seller has a chance to get the highest price possible for the home.
- Be Willing to Counteroffer: Sellers don’t often take the first offer given to them. You can make an offer, but they may counteroffer. Instead of walking away, consider what they came back with and decide how to proceed. You don’t have to accept the counteroffer, but you can show that you’re considering it by coming back with a similar offer.
Additional Considerations
Do sellers always pick the highest offer?
Money isn’t the only thing sellers care about. Of course, they want to make a profit on their investment, but other factors may be considered, including:
- Closing date
- Items/appliances you want left in the home
- Earnest money deposit, if applicable
- Type of financing
- Your desired contingencies
What happens when there’s more than one offer on a home?
Sellers have a couple of options when there are multiple offers on a home.
- Take the highest offer
- Counter the offer closest to what they wanted for the home
- Counter all offers and see what happens as a result
Do sellers always accept the first offer?
Sellers aren’t under any obligation to accept the first offer given to them, but they can.. Some sellers hold out and see if a better offer comes along. It just depends on what they want out of the sale.
Can a home seller reject an offer?
Home sellers can reject an offer. They can also counteroffer it if they feel like the buyer would be willing to negotiate. Most sellers counteroffer to see if they can get a higher price or to change the terms the buyer requested.
Do sellers accept all financing options?
Some sellers are pickier than others, but generally, most accept all options.
Making a strong offer is about more than just offering the most money for a home. Some sellers are financially driven, but not all. Find out what a seller really cares about the most and see if you can meet those requests.
