Here are some tips a and tricks on how to win an offer of the house you’ve always wanted. For a worthwhile house, it is not unusual to have 15 or even more applicants in the competition, which can be very frustrating for an inexperienced buyer. I know this very well from my daily work with clients, being a luxury homes dealer in Toronto for more than 25 years. Of course these tips will not guarantee you a success, but they could help you to avoid costly faults.

Get prequalified

It usually helps to improve your chances if you already have a preapproval from your bank for your loan. Of course, it wouldn’t make a good impression if your financing was not sure and the vendor found out about it – in that case all other tricks won’t be able to save you.

Explore the seller’s wishes

Try to find out about the seller’s preferences, as it would be a waste of time if there were some details that you were not able to meet. It is therefore advised to find out all the prerequisites accompanying the sale of a property you want to bid on. If the details are not acceptable for you, it is advised to try another possibility instead. On the other hand, if you are willing to meet them, have your agent to provide a summary that will accompany your offer. That will give you a chance to let the seller get to know you a bit and will highlight the positive aspects of your offer.

No low-ball, no even cut off marks

The last thing you want to do is to upset the seller by your low-ball offer, because the seller most likely will rather sell it to almost anybody else then you. Offering a better price later might not even help in this case. Instead shoot about $1,800 to $4,800 higher over the highest expected bid. Let’s say the highest bid is thought to be $470,000. Try adding some money and come to $473,164 – the offered price doesn’t have to be an even number!

The deposit

The usual, best looking amount of the deposit is between 10% and 20%. After having signed the purchase agreement, it is usually possible to arrange with the owner on the exact value you have to pay in advance. The most important thing is the money you pay when the deal is closed so that you look like a solid buyer.

Earnest money deposit

This is a really useful tip, however strong it may look. Pay the earnest money deposit as high as you can afford, as part of the down payment. The earnest money deposit would be lost if you change your mind later and decide not to go through with the deal. It doesn’t matter to you anyway, because the earnest money deposit is the ground of the down payment in any case, but for the seller it means a lot. It tells the owner that you really want to go through with the deal. After closing the business, you can usually rearrange the down payment value, so what matters here is the good faith deposit, showing how interested you really are in the property.

Come up with a free lodging offer

In the summary accompanying your offer, offer a free-post occupancy agreement to the seller in case they need a week or two in the property after it’s been sold to settle their affairs. Typically you would negotiate rent, but giving the option of free occupancy for a short period of time might be the detail that decide whether the seller will go for your offer or not.

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