You need to know how to NOT get your offer accepted in 2022 just as much as you need to know how to get your offer accepted. If you’re trying to get an offer accepted in a hot housing market like Colorado Springs, there are some things that you’re going to have to NOT do.
Hello and hey it’s Iris with eXp Realty, helping you make your move so you can start building wealth through homeownership in Colorado Springs. First off, I want you to be successful in buying the home of your dreams. I realize there’s a lot of mistrust when it comes to real estate agents and buying and selling real estate in Colorado Springs or anywhere in general. For some reason it seems to be worse on the east coast than where I am in Colorado. Nonetheless, the trust issues are there.
I will speak for myself and say that I’m truly telling you how the market is. I’m not saying things to try and get you to spend more money on a house. I’m trying to help you actually get a house. If I share data with you on what homes are selling for in a specific neighborhood, it's just a measuring tool to help start the offer price. There are many different factors that go into this such as how nicely staged a home is, how clean it is, if it's decluttered and depersonalized, whether photos are professional or not. These marketing strategies actually do play a huge roll in how many offers come in on a home for sale.
These next four things are ways to NOT get your offer accepted.
The first way to not get your offer accepted is by being indecisive.
Are you truly serious about buying a house? Do you know how many times we’ve lost out on homes because buyers waited too long to decide if they wanted the house or not? I understand that it’s a lot of pressure to just write an offer on a house even though it doesn’t give you the warm fuzzies and “the one” vibes. Do you like the layout? Do you like the neighborhood? Do you like the floor plan? These attributes of a home are things that cannot be changed. Do you mind living next to a busy road? That’s something you can’t change. But if you walk in and hate the paint or the light fixtures or the carpet, those are easy fixes. And I don’t know about you, but it’s fun to me to pick these things out. And since you can pretty much learn how to do anything on YouTube, you can easily do some of these updates on your own.
Of course I always recommend a professionally licensed contractor who is bonded and insured for larger projects. So make sure you know your numbers from your lender and make the decision. I can’t tell you how many times a house has been on the market and a buyer waits a couple days to sleep on it and by then another offer has come in or multiple offers and it goes under contract. Be prepared when you’re home searching to act quickly.
The second way to not get your offer accepted is to lowball the seller.
Remember the guy who refused to overpay for a house? He decided to write the offer below the list price. He said he did his own research on the area and ignored the advice of his agent when she said you should write it at this price point at the very least because according to the data of list price vs sold price, the homes in this area are only on the market just a few days and are closing at 104%. Meaning, these homes are sold 4% over the for sale price. So, if the home is listed at $460,000, there’s a good chance that this home will sell for closer to $478,000. But the buyer, again, refused to offer another dollar more on the house saying the house was not worth the suggested amount. The home ended up selling for $480,000 and I’m not surprised because the listing agent did a great job marketing this home.
Unfortunately, sometimes ego gets in the way, but at the end of the day you’re only hurting yourself and the opportunity to buy your dream home. The market determines the home value and doesn’t care about your personal opinion about the value of the house. Don’t get mad at me for saying that, I’m just repeating what Javier Vidana said. He has 125,000 subscribers so he must know something.
"Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today" – Philip Stanhope
The third way to not get your offer accepted is to offer terms the seller doesn’t care about.
Sometimes a particular house will have a seller with interesting terms. These terms may include a post occupancy or waiving inspection or appraisals. Without getting too deep into contracts and those details, certain terms may be more appealing to others. One great thing to do is just to have your agent ask the agent representing the seller. Does your seller need anything? Do they need time to move after closing? Or do they want a quick close? Maybe they are being relocated and have to move asap. Maybe they are facing foreclosure and want to close as quickly as possible. The seller may have many motivating factors that can either work in your favor or not. I did have one agent ask for 6 months with little to no rent. That’s extreme. I almost thought he was joking. But it really depends on how badly you want the house.
Sometimes you won’t be able to meet the seller’s needs even if you have the highest offer. Someone might be offering an appraisal gap guarantee meaning even if the home doesn’t appraise at the offer price, they will guarantee the cash over what the bank is lending. They might like that someone else isn’t going to do an inspection. They might see the type of financing and what the down-payment is going to be. These are all factors that go into the offer acceptance. People say that VA loans aren’t getting accepted. That’s not true. You can get a VA loan if you can offer an appraisal gap guarantee. There are VA buyers who have a lot of money in the bank and are putting 20% down at closing. So many myths flying around it’s insane. But, if you are looking at a house that needs a lot of work or was a recent investor flip, you may not be able to do an FHA loan. But that’s another blog.
The fourth way to not get your offer accepted is by buying at the market peak.
Most people aren’t buying homes around mid October through the first week of January. Homes are sitting on the market just a tiny bit longer. Most people are focused on the holidays and preparing for Halloween events, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. They’re not thinking about buying a house because they are busy. So if you start buying during the real estate season, there are lots of other buyers on the hunt as well. For example, I had a buyer looking early in the year and there were just a handful of offers, then the property fell out of contact and the second time there were twelve offers. Would you rather compete at two or three offers or twelve or more offers?
Game face on.
In a market like ours, there is no time to waste. We're all waiting for the day where there's a balance in the market for sellers and buyers. In the meantime, we can put our best offer forward and get the home of your dreams!
IRIS BURTON
EXP REALTY | COLORADO SPRINGS
3361 N ACADEMY BLVD
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80917
719.315.5016