Its no secret that the Real Estate market in Eastern Waukesha County is absolutely off the hook at the moment. The inventory is low and the Buyer competition is FIERCE! It seems everyone wants a piece of the American Dream in our quiet suburban settings with a great school system. However, within a few days of a house being listed for sale, multiple offers have been submitted and the prices are well above asking… so how can you stand out above the competition and be the winning bidder for the home of your dreams?
Align yourself with a High Quality Buyer’s Agent
A high quality Buyer’s Agent has sat through literally hundreds of home inspections and can point out the major and minor defects before you get emotionally and financially invested in a property. A quality agent employs an arsenal of tactics and strategies in an Offer to Purchase that new agents just haven’t learned yet. Your agent should be able to show you a home new to the market within a moment’s notice, accurately gauge market value, speak knowledgeably about neighborhood trends and answer all your questions truthfully and confidently. Most importantly, your agent should be able to provide you with ALL homes for sale fitting your criteria and present them to you the SECOND they become available.
Within the past couple years, South Eastern Wisconsin has seen an incredible influx of new “baby” Real Estate Agents coming into the market place with stars in their eyes hoping to make a few bucks in their spare time. “It looks like a lot of fun” they say, and “the market is hot, anyone can make money” they exclaim… and to a certain degree its true. But do you really want a rookie agent cutting their teeth and learning valuable lessons at your expense? When your “part time” agent can’t get you in to see your dream house that just came onto the market because they won’t get out of their day job until 4pm, should you have to wait? You deserve better! Come in for a one hour Buyer Orientation with us and start your journey on the right foot!
Have Your Financial Ducks In Order
Choosing the right mortgage and mortgage professional is almost as important as choosing the right home. Each and every mortgage provider offers different closing costs, interest rates, terms and flexibility- no two providers are alike. For instance, a local “big box bank” branch may offer you 4 different loan options with 4.25% interest and $2,100 in closing costs, a regional credit union may offer the same Buyer 2 different loan programs with attractive $500 closing costs and 4.375% interest while the Mortgage Broker down the block has 12 products fitting your qualifications, can match the closing costs at the “big box bank” and beat everyone’s interest with 4% flat and an option for no PMI. These are all hypothetical examples of course, but the point is you need to shop your mortgage. Don’t just settle for the first guy who throws a “pre-approval” in your face and call it a day. Until your offer is accepted you can shop around for the best option to fit your needs. Ask us for more information about different mortgage providers and who we recommend.
Know the Market Inside and Out
Once you have gone through our Buyer Orientation, have found the most advantageous mortgage program and established a comfortable purchase price, its time to put boots on the ground and start looking at houses. The National Association of Realtors claims the average home Buyer sees 12 homes before they are ready to make an offer. Some people need to see more while others find their dream home the first time out. Regardless, you need to establish a knowledge base for yourself of how much home your money can buy in different communities. Don’t take a Realtor’s word for what a good deal is and what a good deal isn’t. You need to know it when you see it…. and as cliche as it may sound, once you walk into your dream home you will know it. It will speak to you. The easiest way to trust and follow that feeling is to have seen the rejects.
Set Your Terms and Stick to Them
There are many important terms (other than price) in an offer that can make or break your success when in competition. For instance, if your lease ends May 31st, know that your drop-dead deadline for a closing is May 15th. Sure, you can be flexible with a closing date before this time but after will drastically complicate your life. Other terms like closing cost assistance, earnest money, down payment, maximum tolerable interest rate, home warranty, early occupancy, inspection periods, special testing and right to cure will all play into the strength or weakness of your offer. You need to know what these terms are, how they work and how flexible you can be with each.
Prepare to Jump
When your dream home pops up onto the market and you know you’re going to be in competition (and you will be), TIME is the most important factor in the success or failure of your Offer to Purchase. If both you and your spouse have to wait until you are both available and out of work to see the home, it’s very possible 3 other Buyers have already seen the house. Can you sacrifice a lunch hour? Can you and your spouse see the same house at different times and discuss later? If you can’t get out of work, would your Realtor send you a video walk-through of the house? Resolve to be flexible with your time frames when it comes to a promising home.
Further, you need to have gone through the offer process already so an offer can be submitted in a matter of minutes, not hours. A high quality Agent will sit down and go through and paraphrase section by section the offer to purchase and all supporting documents so you know the rules of the game and how its played. This process can take a matter of hours depending on how many questions you may have. The difference between an Accepted Offer and a Rejected Offer could be those hours spent talking about the offer itself. Have your Realtor sit down with you early in the process and go through the offer package so you are prepared for when the time comes.
So what now?
It’s just a matter of time before your dream home pops up onto the market for sale and an even shorter amount of time before it’s gone. Will you be ready and able to do what you have to do in order to make it yours? The highly trained and experienced agents at M3 Realty know what it takes, and employ all the tactics and strategies in order to ensure their clients are the ones with the Accepted Offer and not the ones settling for second best. Call,text,email us anytime and get the process started. Your dream home is out there!
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