Buy real estate now or in the coming months? The market is red hot in the seller’s favour due to a record breaking shortage of supply. If you want to achieve your goals of home ownership, you need to get ahead of the pack.
In today’s market, multiple offers are no longer a rarity; they are seen very regularly. Considering the challenges that this presents for buyer’s, I wanted to provide some tips to help you buy real estate and land the home you’ve been looking for.
1) Bring your BEST offer to the table the first time. Since there are SO many offers being presented, there is a very good possibility that you won’t have the chance to improve your offer. Although this may be communicated up front, some REALTOR®’s still try to come back afterwards saying their buyer’s can come up another $10,000, $20,000 or even $50,000.
I’m not saying you should spread yourself too thin by any means. But, if you’ve been looking for months, unsuccessfully, that incremental difference in your offer could be just enough to land you the property. I can’t stress this enough. Submit your best offer the FIRST time!
If you’re a first time home buyer and need some extra help, click here for even more great tips.
2) Accuracy is extremely important!
Now that I’ve had the chance to go through dozens and dozens of offers, it’s actually very surprising to me to see how many offers are not submitted with the right information. The property address and description should be correct. In addition, if applicable, maintenance fees and details should be correct as well.
In most cases, the seller’s will have a desired completion date. If they do, their REALTOR will probably send this to the buyer’s representation along with any other specific instructions. It’s in your best interest, if you want to buy real estate, to try to align with the seller’s needs as much as you can.
It’s imperative that all initials/signatures are in the right places including the acknowledgement. Since most offers are irrevocable until a specific time, the last thing you’ll want to do is have to go back for minor revisions.
3) Pay attention to the instructions. This is more for the REALTOR®’s representing their buyers than anyone else. In most cases, the listing agent will send out specific instructions, if applicable, the morning of the offer presentation. It’s super important to review these and make sure the offer presentation matches.
4) If you want to buy real estate, you REALLY need to make sure you can afford it. Although you may have a pre-approval in place, these can be misleading in the sense that they don’t actually guarantee you the full amount of the mortgage.
The catch?
If the home doesn’t appraise for as much as the mortgage pre-approval, you may have no choice but to make up the difference in cash, somehow, or potentially risk losing the property altogether. That’s the last thing any buyer OR seller would want.
For the seller, this will mean re-listing their property and potentially selling it at a lower price. For the buyer, there may be financial consequences for defaulting on the offer and if the seller can’t sell for the same price as your offer, you may in fact need to cover the difference (among other fees).
5) If there is absolutely any possibility that the appraisal could fall short, be prepared to have a back up plan. It’s also a good idea, if you want to buy real estate, to have proof of funds available to send the seller’s REALTOR®. If they are analyzing the strength of your offer compared to a few others, this is one thing that could actually sway the odds further into your favour.
With all of this said, the highest price doesn’t ALWAYS win the bid. It’s all part of the seller’s representation doing due diligence to mitigate risk for their client(s).
If you want to buy real estate in today’s market, it’s very important to manage your expectations be patient and try to maintain a sense of humour. It can take time for the right property to come along but have confidence that you’ll be able to find something eventually.
The market moves very quickly and even though it’s a seller’s market today, it could just as easily shift into a balanced market or a buyer’s market, tomorrow.
If you are buying a home that doesn’t have an offer presentation, you may be in the position to negotiate. Here is an article you would likely find helpful on how to negotiation conditions of the agreement of purchase and sale.
Lastly, if you’re not entirely sure where you’d like to live, check out these articles on the Best Neighbourhoods in Durham Region and Toronto.
If you need any help buying or selling, let’s chat – 647.896.6584, by email info@serenaholmesrealtor.com or by filling out my contact form. For plenty of other great tips, make sure we’re connected on social and you’ve subscribed to my YouTube Channel.
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