How to Win a Bidding War

Here are the five tools we’re using to help buyers’ offers get accepted.

Today we’re talking about the burning question, “How do you win in the bidding wars of today’s crazy market?” Yes, price is important, but there are other tools we’re using right now to get offers accepted:

1 . An escalation clause. This is a great tool that works like eBay. You say to the seller that you’ll pay $400,000 for the house but you’re willing to go up to $425,000. If your offer gets beat by another legitimate offer, it automatically escalates up to a set maximum.

2. Appraisal gap coverage. Your lender is only going to give you the amount that the home appraises for. Say you get bid up to $425,000 but it only appraises at $400,000. The buyer needs to bring that extra $25,000 in cash to make up that gap.

“Price is important, but there are other tools we’re using to get offers accepted.”

3. Consider telling the seller you’ll buy the house as is. You can still do an inspection, all your due diligence, and you can still back out and get your earnest money back if you find something really scary in inspections. However, you’re going to tell the seller you’re not going to ask for repairs.

4. Does the seller need to stay in their home? This is happening a lot these days. Sellers want to stay 30 to 60 days after closing so they can find their next home. If you can be that flexible buyer, you’re going to be that much more attractive.

5. You need an aggressive and experienced real estate agent or team on your side. We communicate with all the listing agents and know how to craft these offers.

It takes a ton of aggressiveness and great communication to get to the finish line, so give us a call. Our realtors would love to go through how we’re going to win your bidding war.