Tips To Help Strengthen Your Offer To Purchase A Home

The home buying process is filled with decisions, waiting, and getting your finances together. But when you are trying to buy a home in a seller's market where there are more buyers than inventory, you will also need to do what you can to make your offer stand out from any other buyer's offers. Here are some tips to help make your position stronger and your offer more attractive to a seller.

Get Pre-Qualified

One of the best ways to improve your position as a buyer is to get your mortgage financing pre-approved or pre-qualified. When you include your pre-qualification status with an offer to buy a home, this shows the seller that you have begun the process to apply with a broker for a loan and have qualified with a certain amount of financing based on your credit and income.

To get pre-qualified for a mortgage, you will need to get in contact with a mortgage broker or a bank lender for this approval. If you do not know of a broker, ask your realtor for recommendations. Your broker will be able to get you a limit for your financing, which tells you a maximum amount you can offer for a home. Then, you will also know how much your payment will be with the loan's principal and interest.

Include Earnest Money

Another great way to improve your offer and your position as a buyer is to include earnest money with your offer to purchase the property. When you put down earnest money with an offer, it is verified funds that you are putting toward the home's purchase, and will be in the form of a money order or cashier's check.

This earnest money will usually be non-refundable in your offer if you break the contract to purchase the home, so it shows you are serious in buying the home. And if you break the contract terms once your offer is accepted, the home's seller gets to keep the earnest money.

Offer a Competitive Price

Another way to improve your offer on a home and your chances to get your offer accepted over any other buyers is to make an offer as close to the seller's asking price or even above. Be sure you work with your real estate agent to complete a comparative market analysis on the home to make sure you don't offer to over-pay for the home. You don't want to owe more on the home than what it is actually worth, which can affect your chances of getting financing or selling the home later on.

Share