The "Perfect" Offer to Purchase
September 10, 2009
In our present real estate market, finding a property in which you really and truly would like live and making an acceptable offer to purchase it has become a challenging endeavour.
Finding the property nowadays requires both a prospective buyer and a real estate agent to be on constant alert for new listings. The prospective buyer needs to be very clear to the real estate agent when describing needs and wants in a home. The real estate agent needs to probe the buyers' descriptions in order to know the buyers' goals.
Once a property has been selected, the challenge of writing an "acceptable" or "perfect" offer begins. At the beginning of the declining market, buyers wanted to know how much less than the list price they could offer. Obviously, the answer was "it depends". The answer is still "it depends" because of the following factors.
1. First and foremost, it seems to me, is how badly you would like to purchase the property.
2. What have been the selling prices of comparable properties? Your real estate agent can furnish you with this information which will also be valuable in learning what a lender might consider as appropriate market value for a basis in making a loan.
3. What is the most you would consider paying or the most for which you can qualify? In the arena of multiple offers due to low inventories and aggressive listing prices of bank-owned properties, knowing your limits is critical in determining your "perfect" offer.
4. Contingencies play an important role in any offer to purchase. Usually their is a loan contingency, an appraisal contingency and an inspection contingency. Obviously being "pre-approved for your required financing will make your offer more competitive. (Pre-approved is having completed the loan application process including credit checks and income checks with the lender just needing the location and appraisal of the property.)
If you know the above, with the assistance of your real estate agent, you can write an offer that will be "perfect" for you. If the seller receives multiple offers and one is more "perfect" for the seller and your offer is not accepted, you will know that you gave it your best shot.
Remember "perfect" is a relative term.
In our present real estate market, finding a property in which you really and truly would like live and making an acceptable offer to purchase it has become a challenging endeavour.
Finding the property nowadays requires both a prospective buyer and a real estate agent to be on constant alert for new listings. The prospective buyer needs to be very clear to the real estate agent when describing needs and wants in a home. The real estate agent needs to probe the buyers' descriptions in order to know the buyers' goals.
Once a property has been selected, the challenge of writing an "acceptable" or "perfect" offer begins. At the beginning of the declining market, buyers wanted to know how much less than the list price they could offer. Obviously, the answer was "it depends". The answer is still "it depends" because of the following factors.
1. First and foremost, it seems to me, is how badly you would like to purchase the property.
2. What have been the selling prices of comparable properties? Your real estate agent can furnish you with this information which will also be valuable in learning what a lender might consider as appropriate market value for a basis in making a loan.
3. What is the most you would consider paying or the most for which you can qualify? In the arena of multiple offers due to low inventories and aggressive listing prices of bank-owned properties, knowing your limits is critical in determining your "perfect" offer.
4. Contingencies play an important role in any offer to purchase. Usually their is a loan contingency, an appraisal contingency and an inspection contingency. Obviously being "pre-approved for your required financing will make your offer more competitive. (Pre-approved is having completed the loan application process including credit checks and income checks with the lender just needing the location and appraisal of the property.)
If you know the above, with the assistance of your real estate agent, you can write an offer that will be "perfect" for you. If the seller receives multiple offers and one is more "perfect" for the seller and your offer is not accepted, you will know that you gave it your best shot.
Remember "perfect" is a relative term.
posted by shirley harry at 8:12 AM
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