Agents - What are you doing?

Question

What are you guys doing to get offers accepted by sellers, other than offering higher than asking price?

Derek Faller · Answer

Like Joe and Eliza said you want to have a strong offer. That doesn't just mean price, it means not having a lot of contingencies like having to sell a house or qualify for a loan program or those out of the ordinary contingencies. Your buyer should be pre-qualified for the loan amount and closing should be a standard 30 day closing.

A lot of buyer and realtors don't do it anymore, but a letter from the buyer to the seller does sometimes work wonders if the seller is looking at 2 similar offers.

Ann Watkins · Answer

Yep what Joe Liu said. Cash is king, but also if you're terms are better. Quicker close and sometimes a higher earnest money, but you have to be careful with that on. Your buyers could wind up losing their earnest money.

Probably the most impacting of  terms is not having a bunch of terms or other wants and wishes ($0 closing cost from seller, don't ask for home warranties, for the pool to be cleaned, etc)

Joe Liu · Answer

I've listed a lot of houses and have seen quite a bit of tactics that all haven't really worked that well. People would say they have a lot of kids, single mom, war vet, etc. but in the end, just highest down payment, best offer and highest eagerness or chance of not being nit picky, meaning, a client who would probably take it almost 'as is' has helped a lot. If you are doing it from an investor stand point, then one tactic that might help would be to just put in "buyer accepts house 'as is'". You can still have your inspection, but basically you'd have to take it as is or walk away from the deal. Cash helps if they are motivated sellers, but if you are low balling with cash and there's an offer with 20% down that's a decent chunk higher then your offer, then you might still be s.o.l if they aren't motivated sellers. Right now, its a sellers market with low inventory.