Bidding in a Hot Market

Buyers looking for that perfect home in Orlando are finding out that they need to prepare for a fight. Because of a hot market causing lower than normal inventory, hungry buyers are engaging in bidding wars every day. Bidding in a hot market can be a fight and lately, it’s been all about who’s quicker to the punch.  

In a seller’s market, homes sell super fast once they’re listed on the MLS. Getting your offer approved amidst all the competition can be a huge challenge. In this situation, many factors are just out of your control. However, there are certain steps that you can take to make your offer more attractive to the seller.    

When house hunting, you should enlist the help of an Orlando buyer’s agent as opposed to trying to go it alone. Weeding through dozens of homes by yourself that you find on the internet to find one that suits you just isn’t very fun at all. Once you’ve found one that you love, then it’s time to place an offer on it. Many buyers will already have a number in mind but if you’re not sure how much to offer, however, your realtor should be able to assist you in finding the magic number. Experienced realtors can prove to be extremely valuable in this situation by providing the buyer information about the area like recent comparables of other properties in the area.    

Tips on getting your offer accepted, Bidding in a hot market:

  • Get your financing in order. Speak to your mortgage broker or lender before you even start looking at homes. Knowing how much mortgage you can afford in addition to having a pre-approval letter will put you way ahead of the game. You should also know that being pre-approved and pre-qualified are two different things.

The difference between Pre-Approved and Pre-Qualified

  • Pre-qualifying for a loan basically means talking with your lender about your financial situation, income, etc. then the lender will give you an approximate amount of how much you SHOULD qualify for.
  • Pre-Approval includes submitting a loan application together with income statements, a list of assets, a list of expenses, etc. With a complete loan package in hand, your mortgage broker will be able to shop out a loan that would meet your specific needs. It also gives the seller peace of mind knowing that your contract is solid and won’t fall through because of financing.
  • Don’t submit a lowball offer! In a hot market, many properties sell above the listing price. Submitting too low of an offer is the best way to get your offer denied and you may not even get a chance to counter, especially if there’s another competitive offer on the table.
  • Give them a bigger deposit than they asked for. Putting down a larger deposit, allows the seller to see how committed you are to making the deal happen.
  • Eliminate as many contingencies as possible. If the seller has to worry about the buyer selling a home or appraisal value falling short, etc. Then the offer becomes less enticing to the seller. By keeping your contingencies to a minimum, the better your offer will look to the seller.
  • Pay cash. For most people, this isn’t even an option. However, if you’re able to submit a cash offer with a quick close then this will surely get your offer to the front of the line.

Even if you do everything on the list above, it still may not get your offer approved. But by doing as many things as you can to make your offer more attractive to the seller, you’ll know that you did everything in your power to get that offer approved. If it was meant to be then you’ll be living in your dream home real soon. If you find yourself in a bidding war with other buyers, it’s good to know that you have an experienced realtor in your corner.

If you’re searching for a “never say die” type realtor to help you find your Orlando dream house, contact us at https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/contact/

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5 Amazing Reasons Why A Large Down Payment Is So Important Right Now

Summary

If you haven’t bought your first home I suggest you start putting your money away right now because it’s always a good idea to put down a large down payment. Here are a few great reasons why it’s your best option in most cases.

Bleeding you dry with interest

The banks need to make money and they do it by adding a massive amount of interest to your mortgage repayments. For the first half of your mortgage, you’re lucky if you’re paying hardly anything towards the price of your home. It’s quite a substantial amount of money and most people write it off as something that must be done. Put more money down in the beginning and over the life of your mortgage you’ll end up paying a lot less interest which is only a good thing.

A more lavish lifestyle

Do you like to fly to the beach a few times per year so you can top up your tan? Maybe you just like to eat out at nice restaurants a few times per week. When you’re still young it’s worth it to dig in and come up with a larger down payment when buying your home because it means your mortgage repayments will be smaller. You will have more money in your pocket every month and every dollar you earn won’t be getting pumped into your home.

You can sell if you have to

When you don’t put down a large down payment you’re in very risky waters should you ever decide to sell your home. I’m sure you know houses don’t always go up in price and sometimes they fall sharply. If you don’t have enough money invested in your home when it’s time to sell you might not even be able to make enough money to pay back the bank. This won’t matter too much if you don’t plan on selling your new home, but you never know what might happen in the future.

The light at the end of the tunnel

The first few years are great when you buy a new home because you’re just happy you have a place to call your own. It doesn’t take long for reality to kick in and you realize you’ll be making big monthly payments for the majority of your life. When you put down more money in the beginning the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t as far away. You’ll still have many unhappy years of handing over your hard-earned money, but at least it will be over a lot quicker than usual.

You don’t need the money

In some cases, it’s not a good idea to put down too much money in the beginning because what happens when you need it? You won’t be able to take it out again once it’s in, but this is a good thing if you have a simple life and you don’t have any other need for a large chunk of money. When you have credit card debt people say you should pay off your debt instead of saving your money because you’ll actually come out on top. It’s the same situation here and if you invest in a bigger down payment you’ll come out on top, provided you don’t need it of course.

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