How to be a Competitive Buyer

By doing some homework and advance planning you can become a very competitive buyer. This will give you a decided edge whether you are buying during an appreciating "hot" market when homes seem to sell immediately with multiple offers or even in flat or depreciating markets when a real bargain finally comes on the market that you need to move quickly on. Taking the steps below below has worked very well for our clients in the past. Joanne and I have very successfully taken steps even beyond those below to make our offers really stand out relative to the competition and win acceptance.

1. Work closely with a good lender to become Pre-Approved or at least Pre-Qualified.

2. Work closely with a good lender to become a Non-Contingent buyer (if possible) by putting a home equity line of credit (HELOC) in place or do a refinancing to free up the cash you will need for a large down payment so you can buy non-contingent.

3. Work closely with your Realtor to carefully communicate your needs so that when an available property surfaces at a good value your realtor will very quickly make the match and quickly show you the property.

4. Do the work of looking at a lot of properties so you develop your own sense of what a good value is. Your Realtor will already know this but you need to be in agreement or you will likely hesitate and lose the opportunity. You need to be mentally ready and have your own sense of a good value when you see it.

5. When the right property becomes available don't hesitate to write an initial offer quickly. Get in the game early in case other buyers are circling the same property.

Your Realtor will guide you forward every step of the way from this point. Realize that many good buying opportunities are lost due to the buyers not being prepared or mentally ready to move quickly. In the hot property buying game it is often the case that "he who hesitates misses out".