In real estate, cash is power. It’s not exactly the amount of money that you have been approved for by a lender. This type of “cash” is what you can pull directly from your account to buy a property on demand. It can be difficult to compete with cash buyers especially in tight real estate markets. Below, you’ll find some tips to help you match up against any cash offers that you may be competing with when you buy a home.
Make Your Offer Look Attractive As Possible
First, you should always have a pre-approval letter from your lender. This lets sellers know that you’re a qualified buyer. You should also get your lender or realtor (or both) to provide some financial information about you along with your offer. This helps to add to the case that you’re a dependable buyer.
Let Things Move Quickly
If you allow your lender to send an appraiser to the property as quickly as possible, this will give you an advantage in the home buying process. You want to reduce the amount of time that it will take to close on the house. That means you should consider cutting down on both the appraisal and contingency time. You could even consider waiving any contingencies if you feel comfortable.
To speed up the process, even more, you should pre-order an appraisal in advance. You can do this before your offer has even been written. It can be difficult to arrange this, especially with larger scale lenders, but it’s always worth a try. Once the offer is written, the lender can relay to the seller that an appraisal has already been scheduled.
You’ll also want to get the inspection done fairly quickly. You only have a short window of time to get the inspection done. The quicker you get this done, the more serious of a buyer you appear to be. You should have the inspector who you’ll use ready before you even put an offer in on a home in order to expedite this part of the process. Usually, inspectors don’t take terribly long to schedule appointments knowing that their clients have short windows to get inspections done.
Make A Strong Offer
Making a good offer could mean paying extra for a home you love in order to compete with cash offers. Spending more money helps to win. Here’s why: Sellers almost always will give a cash buyer a bit more of a discount since they’ll be getting all of the funds up front. If you love the house and plan to live in it for years to come, the extra money you spend will be well worth it.
Write An Offer Letter
An offer letter adds a bit of a personal touch to the number you put down as a buyer. Here, you can tell the seller who you are and why you love the home. It can be emotional to sell a property, but a seller will feel more comfortable knowing that the home is going to someone who will appreciate it.
About the Author
Kimberly Hering
Kimberly Hering's devotion to helping people achieve their real estate goals stems from her genuine enjoyment of the process. Whatever the task, Kimberly makes it her mission to get it done, however she can, without compromising her client's needs. Often, that means thinking outside the box. After working with Kimberly, clients describe her as being Trustworthy, Creative, Patient, Highly Skilled, Attentive to the Process and having a lot of Integrity.
After spending more than 15 successful years working on Wall Street, Kimberly transitioned into Real Estate, joining Alain Pinel Realtors, then moving to Zephyr, now Corcoran Global Living, in 2018. During her career on Wall Street, Kimberly was a Vice President working as an Institutional Equity Salesperson for Montgomery Securities for 10 years. She covered the top money managers throughout the US and Canada. She joined Jefferies & Co as a Senior Vice President managing the Western Region Institutional Sales group, while continuing to cover the top money managers.
Kimberly leverages her extensive experience selling equities to top money managers throughout the US and Canada, to successfully negotiating any Real Estate transaction seamlessly for her clients. Kimberly is well versed in Marin's neighborhoods, towns, cities, and education system.
Living in the Bay Area for 35 years, 25 years in Marin and having 2 sons in local Marin schools, Kimberly spends a lot of time volunteering in the community and serving on various local Boards. Kimberly has a collection of resources ranging from the best local breakfast spots to vetted contractors. With her reliable list of valuable resources, Real Estate experience and unsurpassed knowledge of Marin's many communities, Kimberly can guide her clients through every aspect of a Real Estate transaction seamlessly.
Relocating to Marin, downsizing, upsizing, first time home buying, final home purchase or sale, or a lot to build a dream home, no matter the undertaking, Kimberly works seamlessly until the job at hand is completed with 100% satisfaction.