As a home buyer in the extreme “Seller’s Market” that we’re experiencing, it’s important to prepare yourself for the competition of buying. This means opening up to new strategies and suggestions from your agent for making your offer the strongest.
Due to the incredibly low inventory, this means you’re competing with more people over the fewer homes available. The first step is being prepared to be in a multiple offer situation, most if not every time. And be ready to give it a few tries before one sticks and we will learn together along the way. To stand out and make sure you get the home you fall in love with, you need to build your strategy on preparing these three categories: Competition, Inventory and Documentation.
Competition.
Inventory.
Documentation.
Prepare For Competition
You can prepare for the competition by looking at homes under the budget you’ve given yourself. By doing this, you can give yourself more room financially to make more of a competitive offer. Additionally, being open to adjusting your terms – price isn’t the only attractive piece for sellers. This might look like having flexibility in your moving date, modifying the level of inspections you arrange, or foregoing the seller paying closing costs.
Prepare For Low Inventory
At the end of September, we were seeing about 50% less inventory than that same time last year. With almost half of the inventory than usual, and an onrush of millennials ready to purchase their first home, it’s important to be able to have a thoughtful strategy laid out for this purchasing environment. One piece of strategy could be starting to look at homes at least 90 to 120 days before your ideal move date. Another piece looks like having flexibility with your move plan. If you’re a renter, an additional way to give yourself flexibility is by speaking with your landlord about a short term or month-to-month lease before going under contract.
Prepare Your Documents
It’s important to have all of your ducks in a row. This means, having all your documents in place so you can move quickly. You don’t want to lose momentum by having to wait on a lawyer or lender to approve an item or send you a form. By preparing all of your paperwork and financial plans ahead of time, you can be ready to put in your offer fast and competitive.
As your agents, we make sure to understand all of your needs and custom create a strategy that best works for you. We want to help you get your dream home! This market doesn’t have to be “all bad,” if you have the right agents to guide your through it all. Contact either of us if you, or someone you know, wants our guidance in your buying process.