Multiple Offers on Your Home? 14 Concerns You Must Address with Your Realtor

Here’s how to review details in a tidy, orderly manner so you can make sense of your home sale

Amidst a continuous pandemic, seller’s markets are still holding strong throughout the nation. In numerous cities, home buyer demand is up while inventory stays low– leaving house hunters fighting it out in multiple-offers scenarios and sellers attempting to browse everything.

Having several offers on your home is fantastic, however, how do you guarantee you pick the very best deal and don’t miss out on an even better one? With multiple-offer scenarios being the standard in hot markets today, understanding how to browse a pile of home offers and backup offers is what First Team agents do best for their clients by supplying the very best counsel possible.

You might be lured to get the highest deal possible, however, the price is only one (albeit essential) piece of the puzzle. Aside from price, there are a number of other elements sellers must think about– and as your official guide in the home sale process, we’re here to help paint the whole picture, not simply part of it.

Prior to delving into how we assess a deal, there are 2 points to bear in mind:

  1. Do you have a set timeline you’d like to stick to, or do you simply require a quick transaction? Understanding your own expectations and wants, and communicating that to your agent is crucial to identifying the right offer when you have several pouring in.
  2. As soon your agent understands what’s important to YOU, they can get to work anticipating the process. Taking the time to review procedures and set expectations in advance with your agent is key to being able to comprehend and examine deals quickly as they come in.

The secret to assessing deals is ensuring the deal terms line up with your goals. Here’s our reliable method for pragmatically examining a home offer’s various aspects by organizing deal terms into 3 classifications: speed, certainty, and price.

Speed: How quickly does the purchaser wish to move?

Speed primarily revolves around the closing date, but there are a couple of other aspects to think about. We’ll begin with the most apparent: What is the closing date– and does it match up with your ideal timeline? This one is quite obvious– when does the home buyer want to close on the house? If you’re looking to move out as quickly as possible, a sooner date is ideal.

How flexible is the buyer on timing? If you have a very particular timeline you’d like to follow based on the purchase of your next home, a job relocation, or another life event, is the purchaser ready to accommodate that? More versatile buyers may provide a deal with a leaseback alternative, which could be the perfect option if you need more time prior to vacating your property.

When does the contract expire? Numerous deals consist of an expiration date set by the purchaser. This date can be a great sign of how quickly the home buyer is seeking to relocate and seal the deal. This can in some cases put sellers in a difficult circumstance, specifically when there are several deals on the table, and you only have a brief timeframe in which to choose.

Sky above house with palm trees. Title reads "14 Concerns to Address with your agent When You Get Multiple Offers"

Certainty: How qualified is the purchaser?

As soon as we’ve thought about how well the deal lines up with your timeline, we proceed to examine the certainty of the deal:
Is it an all-cash deal? Many times, all-cash deals suggest quicker and less dangerous sales, which is what makes them so enticing. First Team Instant Offers allows our clients the opportunity to review a cash offer on their home at any time to eliminate the hassles of a traditional home sale.

The main advantage of an all-cash deal is not needing to fret about the possibility of an appraisal coming in too low, or third-party funding falling through. Although all-cash deals bring an increased level of certainty, they frequently come with a lower price tag, so depending on your objectives, you have to weigh this expense.

How economically safe and secure is the home buyer? Having a solvent purchaser helps guarantee a smooth closing. A couple of aspects can assist you in deciphering how economically sound a purchaser is: how much they’re putting down, their down payment deposit or earnest money, and if they’re preapproved for a loan.

  • Down payment: Typically, a greater deposit is a sign of a major and more economically protected purchaser. The greater the deposit, the much better. Deposits between 20-50% are a strong indication of monetary stability. The purchasers will not get this cashback if they back out of the offer unless defined in the agreement. Normally, buyers will default to 1% of the purchase rate.
  • Pre-approval: These days, being pre-approved for a loan is basically a requirement in competitive markets. Although preapproval does not ensure funding, it’s a great sign that they’re prepared and able to purchase.

Contingencies? When a purchaser sends a deal with contingencies, they’re stating extra requirements that should be fulfilled prior to the sale can be settled. Any contingency consisted of in the agreement needs to be kept in mind and thought about. When providing deals to sellers, it’s crucial that they comprehend how contingencies may affect the sale.

Home-sale contingencies are likewise typical, they do include another layer of intricacy to the offer. In any case, the fewer contingencies, the fewer opportunities the buyer has to back out of the sale.

Price or Cost

Price is quite obvious, there are a couple of extra aspects to take into account when assessing a deal since they’ll end up impacting your net profits: Is the purchaser offering to pay closing expenses?

Normally, both the buyer and the sellers are accountable for paying a part of the closing costs. In a competitive market, homebuyers may offer to pay more than their normal share. Sellers can frequently work out closing expenses like the owner’s title policy– the third-largest closing cost expenditure for sellers. Sellers can likewise work out elements such as escrow costs, home warranty costs, HOA transfer fees, recording fees, and title insurance– all a part of your usual closing expenses. Make sure your agent takes all these costs into account when computing the net profits from the sale.

If required, will the purchaser spend on a brand-new survey? It’s normal for loan providers– and title businesses— to require a study prior to settling the purchasers’ loan. If you already have an existing survey, the buyer will frequently decide to utilize that. Will the purchaser purchase survey coverage? The study recommendation, likewise referred to as study coverage, safeguards the buyer against any study mistakes. If the buyers chose to utilize an existing study offered by you, they’ll typically include this protection in their title insurance plan. Since this cost is flexible, the homebuyer may or may not offer pay for the protection in their offer.

Is the buyer asking for you to purchase the home warranty? Home warranties aren’t required, but most buyers buy one for peace of mind. It’s common for the sellers to pay for the purchasers’ house service warranty in California, however, the purchasers may likewise select to pay for it themselves to make their deal more attractive.

Is the buyer using a leaseback– if so, at what expense? If you’re interested in securing a flexible timeline, buyers who are in-the-know may include the choice for a leaseback on their deal, providing you the versatility to vacate on your own terms. Usually, the purchasers need you to pay the mortgage throughout this time. In competitive markets, purchasers may agree to rent at an under-market rate or for absolutely nothing at all– a gesture that could end up saving you a significant amount of money.

When it comes to combing through multiple-offer circumstances, there’s so much detailed analysis to do! So when you get 5, 10, or even more offers on your home, it’s important to be working with a qualified listing agent who can thoroughly assess each deal and prove detailed notes on each in a tidy and orderly method that makes sense to you. It’s no simple task – but it’s what we do best!