4 Strategies to Get Your Home Offer Accepted in a Multiple Offer Situation

You will want to consider using certain strategies to get your home offer accepted in a multiple offer situation. This is not a normal market and, most homes that list are experiencing multiple offers within a very short amount of time. If you have been looking for a home to purchase for the last 6 months or so in the Charleston tri-county area, you likely understand this all too well.

Low Inventory of Homes for Sale Continues in the Charleston Tri-County Real Estate Market

It’s hard to fully describe just how LOW the number of Active Single Family Homes is in our tri-county market at present.

To illustrate the current low inventory situation in the Charleston tri-county area, the below chart shows the current breakdown by county of ACTIVE Homes for sale both Single Family Detached and Single Family Attached (condos/townhomes):

These following are ALL of the homes/condos/townhomes that are currently available for sale by county. These numbers are staggeringly LOW!

Our tri-county market remains in high demand. As you can see by the numbers below, there are many more homes and condos/townhomes that are already under contract/pending closing:

Average Days on Market is Low

The numbers above represent a total of 3,157 homes/condos/townhomes that are under contract. The really startling thing is that the “Average Days on Market” for these 3,157 homes is only 26. That is extremely low.

Most properties in some of the more popular areas are going under contract in a matter of just a few days or less.

What does this mean for you if you’re hoping to purchase a home soon? Well, unfortunately it means that you’ll likely be competing with others for the same property.

4 Strategies to Get Your Offer Accepted — Being the Successful Bidder

Strategy Number 1:

Price is usually the number one strategy for winning a multiple offer situation. Knowing this, be as aggressive as your comfort level will allow if it’s a home that you really want to own.

You should have already reviewed the recently closed comparables and understand that your offer price is within range of those.

If you are financing your purchase, unless you are putting a large percentage down, your lender will require an appraisal to be done by an independent appraiser. The appraisal will verify that you are not paying more than what is considered “fair market value” for the property.

Strategy Number 2:

As the old saying goes “Cash is King” but, if you aren’t able to pay all-cash for a home (and many people just simply can not), then make sure you have a PRE-APPROVAL letter in hand to accompany your offer.

Go one step beyond this and have your lender take you through the underwriting process completely such that all you’re waiting on is a ratified contract on a home to complete the loan process.

This will give the Seller more comfort that your financing will be solid and almost virtually assure a hassle-free financing process. Not all lenders offer this so, you many need to ask your lender about it

Strategy Number 3:

Communicate in your offer your willingness to be flexible with such things as closing date, possession date, etc. In a Sellers’ market the Seller may be equally as concerned about finding a place to move to after the closing. Therefore, if you have the ability to, make it clear that you’re willing to either offer a rent-back situation for a set period of time.

I had a client recently get their offer accepted because they agreed to allow the seller an option to rent-back for a short period of time after the closing date. Your real estate agent should make this communication clear and in writing along with the offer.

Strategy Number 4:

If your comfort level will allow you to, make it clear in your offer that your contract will not be contingent on certain repair conditions.

This may hold more weight than even price to some Sellers. If the Seller knows that they are not going to have to deal with paying for repair issues throughout the process, it will make your offer more attractive to them.

Obviously there are some risks involved for you as the Buyer in removing repair contingencies in the initial offer. There are some things you can do to help reduce your risk.

For example, if possible, you can take your contractor or inspector along prior to making the offer. They can give you a good cursory overview of the property and make you aware up front of any possible repair items that you’ll need to deal with post-closing.

Another thing you could do is put a dollar limit on the amount of repairs that the Seller will be liable for. Do this in your offer so that it is clearly spelled out and in writing for the Seller.

In Summary

In a high demand market such as the Charleston tri-county area you’ll need to bring your “A-Game” forward right from the beginning in order to increase your odds of having your offer accepted. You’ll also need to pack a lot of patience for the home buying journey. It’s not uncommon in our current market for Buyers to put in as many as 3 or more offers before they get an offer accepted. I had one Buyers’ agent tell me recently that his client had put in EIGHT offers prior to putting the winning offer in on my clients’ home.

Hopefully some of these strategies will help you to become successful to get your home offer accepted in a multiple offer situation.

For more details on the above strategies or other possible strategies, feel free to contact me at 843-343-7640.

Happy house hunting in this unprecedented Sellers’ market!

DISCLAIMER: If you are already under a Buyer Agency or other such contract with a licensed real estate agent then I would not be able to give any advice or recommendations and the above strategies would need to be discussed with your real estate agent who is aware of your situation. The information provided in this post should not be considered a substitute for legal advice. You should seek legal counsel before entering into a legally binding purchase contract.

**Statistics provided by the Charleston Multiple Listing Service