With homes selling as fast as they are listed, how do you make your offer the best? One of the biggest problems my buyers are having right now is finding a home! According to the National Assocation of Realtors (NAR), March makes the 5th straight month that annualized home sales have topped 4.9 million, this streak was last matched in 2007.
Homes for sale are harder to find. In 2010 there were more than 3 million homes listed for sale on average. Now there are less than 2 million homes listed for sale. Inventory is down 24% from last year. At the current pace buyers are buying homes, the stock of homes would "sell out" in just 4.7 months. That makes this a seller's market as homes supplies are under 6 months.
What does this mean for you as a buyer? You need to make sure you are making a strong offer – that doesn't always mean the highest priced offer. You need to make sure you are pre-approved and your lender writes an approval letter that helps you. I think I have had a phone call from every listing agent on all my buyers offers! They are following up to make sure the buyers can close on their seller's homes. They want to know what kind of financing, if there are any issues, basically they want to make sure if they accept the offer, that the buyer will make it to closing!
Make sure your lender is involved with your realtor. Talk to your loan officer and make sure they know you are writing an offer and maybe a little bit about the home. The phone call your loan officer gets from the listing agent can help you get the home you want. If the loan officer doesn't call the listing agent back or sounds very vague or unsure, you may not get the home you want!
When you write your offer, if you need the seller to pay closing costs for you, make sure that is included. But you also may have to offer more for the home to get the seller to pay those closing costs. If the house just came on the market, you may need to offer more than the listing price to get the home. We are seeing lots of multiple offers on homes, so know that you usually can't come in way under the list price! Talk to your realtor about a realistic offer and use their knowledge to help you get your new home!
Hopefully with warmer weather coming, we will see more homes for sale so it will be easier for you to find the home of your dreams!!
Leslie Vanderwerf, NMLS ID#335509, American Mortgage & Equity Consultants – Email – Website
