In a quickly-moving, competitive market like today’s, one of the most frequent questions we get is--- “How do we make our offer competitive?” quickly followed by, “What can we do to set our offer apart from the others?”

Here at Homes By Valor, we know that you don’t want to miss out on the house your family loves or overpay for it, so we’ve developed a reliable process for giving our clients the best possible shot at being the top offer. Here are the steps we always recommend to set your offer apart. 

1. Have your agent call the listing agent to introduce themselves and ask what the seller is looking for. Having your agent make a personal phone call to the listing agent is an absolutely vital step in the process. Not only does it give them a chance to ask what the seller is looking for beyond price, but it also gives your agent a chance to make a personal contact with the other agent and set themselves apart in the competition. Think about it—if you were a listing agent, who would you rather work with: Someone who simply submitted an offer with no contact other than an email or someone who personally reached out to discover exactly what your seller is hoping the offer will look like? The second is a much better option since the buyer’s agent is already demonstrating how easy they will be to work with, which is going to make the listing agent more likely to advocate for your offer. 
2. Don’t go with even numbers on your offer. The human brain may naturally love even numbers, but that’s exactly why you want to choose a different number to set yourself apart from the crowd. For example, if a property is listed at 349,900, and it is a multiple offer situation, the most likely offers on it are probably going to be $350,000 , $355,000, and $360,000. To give your offer a slight edge, choose a number slightly above any of these-- $351,000, $355,800 , or $360,300. You never know when $100 will make the difference between your offer and another person’s. 
3. Think about timeline. When you are touring a person’s home, you can usually tell what stage of the moving process they are in. Is the house still totally unpacked, or is it vacant? Depending on which of these situations the current owners find themselves in, you want your offer to reflect their ideal timeline. A longer close with short contingency deadlines will give people more time to pack, which will likely be desirable to families or working professionals. However, if it’s a vacant house listed by an investor, they will likely want to close as quickly as possible, so an offer to pay for a rushed appraisal and close in 20 days instead of 30 might be appealing enough to them to get you the contract. 
4. Work with a team with a great reputation. If the listing agent has had a great experience with your agent in the past, they are much more likely to advocate for your offer since they know your agent will work hard to get the deal closed. An agent isn’t the only part of the team, however. Your lender is just as vital, so when your agent submits an offer with a great local lender with a good reputation, that puts you leaps and bounds beyond someone who just submits their prequal from their personal bank. Don’t put yourself in a bad position by refusing to listen to your agent’s lender recommendations. We promise that it really does make a difference when reviewing offers. 
5. Offer something exciting. You probably heard tell of some of the crazy bonus offerings that were going on at the height of the crazy market—taco truck for the sellers, pizza party on closing day, $200 bottle of wine if they signed your contract, etc. While it doesn’t always make sense to throw these extras in, depending on the seller, it could make all the difference. If you have something special that you can offer in a multiple offer situation, it’s never a bad idea to throw it out there. 
6. Only submit the offer that you feel comfortable with. One of the most common complaints we hear about the current market is, “I don’t want to get involved in a multiple offer situation.” To that, we say—We’re sorry, but that is inevitable, but there is good news: You never have to submit an offer that you’re uncomfortable with.” At the end of the day, the only offer you should ever submit is your highest and best. Don’t even worry about taking into account what others might be doing. Submit the offer and terms that make you feel excited to get the house if they accept your offer and not regret not going higher if they go with someone else. If you do that, you will always make the right choice for you and your family, and you will never have regrets about what could have been. 

We hope this article has helped you learn what it takes to set your offer apart in a competitive market like this one. Please reach out and ask us any other questions you have, and we’ll be happy to help any time. You can reach us at (678) 242-9981 or submit any questions through our contact us question form. We hope to talk to you soon!