I Never Saw it Coming! Part 2

Who thinks that they will lose a home? Most of the buyers today are not thinking that. That is why when you go out looking if you have a different perspective in mind you can be the savvy one out there who wins rather than loses. So you may wonder how people lose a house that they really like. Sometimes it is the small things that make the difference. You will want to differentiate yourself from the other buyers with a pre-approval letter. Everyone has one of those you say, that is true but on your pre-approval letter make sure the lender states that the credit check has been done and they have looked at your tax returns from the previous year. This is the big thing that sets YOU apart from your competing buyers. When the real estate agent looks at two offers at similar prices they will look for reasons one offer should stand out over the other. Most pre-approval letters are written by a lender who may never have met with the buyer. Did they do a credit check to see if the buyer is really credit worthy? Did they meet with the buyer and review their past tax records? The answer to both of these is No in most cases. That is where YOU will shine!  One of seller’s biggest fears is whether the buyer will be able to obtain the financing they put forth in their offer. If this small step is done ahead of time it will alleviate a lot of those fears and could mean that YOU get the house!

Thou Shalt Not Steal

Look at homes in YOUR price range. Just because the market is having difficulties does not mean you can steal a home that is twice your price range. It just doesn’t happen. Sure there are those odd cases out there that someone relays to you but I bet if you dig into the facts a little deeper there is a lot more to those stories. Writing really low offers on homes you cannot afford just alienates the seller. Now the Realtors job is to keep things cool, but I have seen some ridiculous offers come across my desk and the seller and I wonder why the other agent bothered to write the offer in the first place. Your offer has to have some credibility in it somewhere. The next blog post will talk about Home Inspections and what to expect with these.