What to Do When the Home You Want Receives Multiple Offers
Of all the many phases of buying a house, often times the most challenging and frustrating part can be the bidding process. After searching and finding a home that is definitely desirable, a potential buyer will make on offer on the home. The buyer will either accept the original offer the seller has set for the home, or will respond with a counter offer. Here are five questions when dealing with counter offering.
The first question most buyers will have is how to make sure there offer is the most attractive offer a seller will receive. The best thing a buyer can do to be more attractive to the seller is to get pre-approved. Getting pre-approved demonstrates to the seller that the buyer has already established a relationship with a lender and the lender has pretty much proved that the buyer will be able to get the financing they need to match their offer. Often time’s buyers have their down payment tied up in their current home, if this is the case, try to sell the pre-existing home to get the pre-approved financing.
The second question that many buyers want to know is why their particular offer was rejected and why the offer that was accepted was actually accepted. The problem is that realtors have absolute confidentiality constraints with there seller. They will usually out of professional courtesy give the rejected buyer some advice as to why their offer was rejected. They will not give away details about the actual accepted offer until at least the home closes. This is a strong precaution in case the actual buyer has to withdraw before the home closes.
The third question is if the buyer should make a offer on a home that is already been accepted. The answer is that a buyer can legally still make an offer on the home, but this will almost always be a waste of time. The seller will be locked in with the previous buyer and will have a really hard time breaking the escrow.
The fourth question is dealing with sellers who are getting multiple offers but not in person. No need to stress, the mortgage broker is obligated by law to show the buyer every offer. The nervousness comes from the fact that realtors and mortgage brokers have interest in helping out the insiders first. So if a few offers come in by fax on the same day, the non insider offer might be the last to be shown, or will be emphasized more.
The fifth question buyers have dealing with offers and negotiating is if having personal contact with the seller is a negative or a positive action to take. In few cases will a seller enjoy a personal visit, enjoy hearing all the reasons why a potential buyer loves the house, but rarely, will the joy of hearing how great the house they are selling is will overpower the strong sense of privacy most people have. Leave it up to the real estate agent to set up a walk through when the seller is home and use that as the only time to engage in conversation with the seller.