The days of buying a Birmingham, Alabama home at 70% of it’s value has long passed. As a savvy home buyer you need to know that if they’ve set your sights on the home of your dreams, you’dbetter be prepared to make a competitively strong offer. Many sellers are totally ignoring low-ball offers on a home and home buyers are not even yielding even a courtesy response from Metropolitan Birmingham home sellers.
So what constitutes a competitively strong offer? That’s an excellent question and here are some answers and other considerations for you if you’re in the market to buy a home:
- List Price/Market Value: If the home is property priced at true market value, then a strong offer would be anywhere from 97% to 103% of the list price (if it is truly listed at market value)
- List Price/Market Value: If the home is property priced at true market value, then a strong offer would be anywhere from 97% to 103% of the list price (if it is truly listed at market value)
- Is the home in a highly sought after area? If so, you know you’re going to have a lot of competition particularly if homes don’t come on the market that often in that area.
- Pre-approval: Have you been pre-approved for a loan? Morevever, have you been pre-approved by a reputable lender? Being pre-qualified by a well known, direct lender can go a long way when making an offer on a home so don’t take chances when selecting a lender.
- Other Considerations: Strong offers sometimes are about more than just price.
- For example, if the sellers have already purchased another home, a quick closing may be considered a strong offer
- Earnest money: An offer with the promise of additional earnest money my given sellers cause of pause to consider your offer more favorable
- Down payment: If your down payment is considerably higher than the lender required down payment (i.e. 3.5% as required by FHA), the sellers may consider you a more serious and prepared buyer versus your competition
If you’re planning to purchase a home, my most encouraging words to you would have to be “come strong or stay where you are.” Serious sellers want to sell to serious buyers who make serious offers.
Are you ready to buy a home in Metropolitan Birmingham, AL? If yes, then start your search here or call me directly at (205) 527-1112.
photo credit: sharpstick’s photos $125 price change via photopin (license)
Charita Cadenhead is a licensed Realtor® in the State of Alabama since 2006, serving the Metro Birmingham market. In 2007, she founded Bham WIiRE (Birmingham Women Investing in Real Estate). Bham WIiRE consisted of women interested in real estate investing, but later the focus expanded to include all women interested in any aspect of the world of real estate. She is co-author of the book “Sell Your House Fast for the Right Price”, and has been featured on NuWire.com. She is an avid blogger with nearly 1300 posts to date, including a great number of featured posts.
Whether you’re looking to buy real estate your sell your existing property, call or send me and email today, so we can discuss how I can best serve your Birmingham-Hoover Metro area real estate needs!
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