Tips to Making an Offer to Purchase a Home

How informed a home buyer is when making an offer on a home can play a huge role in the decisions that they make after they purchase the home, and when they sell it. When you invest in a home, it is important to think long term, because you make money on a piece of property when you buy it, not when you sell. Sure you get paid at the closing table, but because you picked the right home, in the right location, and at the right terms, you a are able to walk away from the closing with money in your hands.  So, when you find that home that fits your needs, it is important that you gather as much facts as you can before making an offer on that home. If you have not found a home yet, use our home finder tool to search for Greater Greenville SC Homes for Sale. Here are some tip on how to make an offer on a house in an informed way.

Appoint a Realtor®

I really don't recommend buying a home or making an offer without a Realtor. It is important to understand that a good Realtor is an invaluable resource to a home buyer. A real estate agent can make a difference in how successful you will be when making an offer on a home. It is always a good idea to have a professional representing your interests in a transaction as important as buying a home. A good real estate agent can help you avoid the pitfalls that most home buyers experience while investing in real estate. Your Realtor can assist you with gathering all facts that will enable you to decide the best price to offer the seller.

Get Pre-Approved

If you are not already pre-approved for a loan, go ahead and contact your bank or a local mortgage lender to get this done. You may want to talk to two or three different lenders so that you can compare interest rates and lender fees. Your agent will probably have local lender contacts they can recommend to you. Armed with a pre-approval letter, your offer will be taken more seriously by the seller when you are negotiating. It also allows you to find out how much you can really afford. In a Greenville SC real estate transaction, you almost always have to submit your pre-approval letter or proof of funds (if paying cash) with your offer. So, try to get this done as soon as possible.

Ask Questions

Find out why the seller is selling the home. But, keep in mind that the seller's agent may not want to disclose this information, but if you can get this information, it could help guide you in deciding how much to offer. Find out how much the seller paid for the home, and how long they have owned it. Your agent should be able to gather this information for you.

Find Comps

Your real estate agent will play a huge role here to determine how much to offer, and the trend in the neighborhood. To do this, your agent will need to find recently sold comparable homes in the area. Preferably, the ones that have sold in the last six months. Then you can compare them to see how they stack up against the subject property. Your agent can retrieve these comparable homes from the Multiple Listing System(MLS) or by retrieving sold data from the county tax records. Once you have this data, you can see the list price to sale price ratio, days on the market, are the prices going up, or is it a declining neighborhood. With this data, you will have a clearer picture of whether the home is priced right, over-priced or under-priced, and where to start with your initial offer.

Determine How much to Offer

When making an offer on a house, you may be tempted to make a low ball offer to test the seller's motivation temperature. While this may be a good idea in a buyers market, it may work against a buyer in a seller's market or in a multiple offer situation. Use the facts that you have available to determine what a fair offer is without insulting the home seller, or giving too much.

Submit you offer

If you are buying a home in Greenville South Carolina, you will need an earnest money deposit. While earnest money may not be a requirement, it is a show of good faith, and will be credited back to you at closing. When submitting an offer, don't expect that the seller will accept it, unless you are making a full price offer. If you are working with a good agent, he or she will be representing the best of your interests from the very moment the present that offer to the listing agent or the seller. He or she will negotiate diligently on your behalf.

Negotiate

Negotiating one of life's biggest investment does require some skills. Price is one thing, but you can negotiate other terms of the contract as well. Like, closing costs,  updates or upgrades if you are dealing with a new home. You can use the give and take technique here to secure a win-win. While negotiating, keep in mind that there is a chance that the home seller may be in a situation where they can not afford to sell for less than their mortgage balance, so don't be surprised if the seller, no matter how high their motivation temperature is, can not sell the home for what you want to pay for it. Go here to get tips to successful real estate negotiations.

Please contact us at 864-438-5050 for more information about Greenville SC real estate and homes for sale or to work with one of our Greenville SC real estate expert Realtors.