If you’re looking to enter the housing market in the near future, you may be wondering how to get your offer accepted on a house. Buying a house can be a frustrating experience for first-time homebuyers and repeat buyers alike if you aren’t sure how to make a competitive and tantalizing offer. Partin Real Estate has been helping people buy houses in the Bolivar, MO area since 1990. So, we know how to put forth an offer that you feel comfortable with and the seller won’t immediately toss to the side.
How to get your offer accepted on a house
Tip 1 – Partner with an experienced real estate agent
By partnering with a real estate agent who has a depth of experience of both buying and selling houses in the area in which you’re looking for a home, you’re getting a person on your team who knows what a good, fair offer looks like. They’ll know how to get your offer accepted on a house because they understand the local market, they know what it feels like to get both good and bad offers, and they know how to leverage that information to get you in a new home in a reasonable amount of time.
Tip 2 – Know your budget
At the time of this writing (March 2024), the market is changing. There’s new laws, we’re still in the wake of buyers paying over market price for homes, and interest rates are coming down but still high. You need to know what you truly can afford. This will help you narrow your options down to ones for which you can make a realistic offer. Shop around for a lender with competitive pricing and get yourself pre-approved for a mortgage.
Remember, whatever amount they approve you for does NOT mean this is what you can afford. Compare what the mortgage payments would be to your budget. Once you find a monthly payment that’s comfortable, ask your lender to translate THAT monthly payment to a total mortgage amount. Now, you know your housing budget and which houses to prioritize in your search.
Tip 3 – Make a respectful offer
It’s understandable to be frustrated with higher-than-normal interest rates and home prices. Understand – real estate agents for home sellers are motivated by commission to get their clients to enter into negotiations and make counteroffers a little closer to the listing price. However, if an offer comes in too low, the agent and home owner may be insulted and refuse to respond. Or, they’ll simply assume the price they feel the home is worth and where you’re valuing it is too far away to enter into negotiations. This means you wasted your time touring the home and putting forth the offer and didn’t get any closer to buying a new home.
If you’re on a timeline and need to know how to get your offer accepted on a house fast, you may need to reconsider your shopping price point if everything is too expensive and your agent is saying your offers are too low.
Tip 4 – Leverage your real estate agent’s knowledge
Look, we know how this sounds. Trusting that your real estate agent isn’t pushing you into just any house for commission can be difficult. That’s why finding an agent you do trust is so important. Get to know them as another human being and find common ground you can connect over. Then, leverage the local market knowledge they have to find homes you can afford, negotiate a fair price for, and that fits all of your housing needs. Ask them, “Is this a fair offer that the seller would consider or counter?” If they’ve been buying and selling homes in that area for a long time, they’ll know how to get your offer accepted on a house.
An experienced realtor will know how to get your offer accepted on a house by pointing out the (hopefully minor) flaws in the home or property that can help bring the price down or get the repairs you need to make you feel comfortable purchasing the home.
