Andrew Lamb walks through how to win a bidding war on a house. Put down more earnest money (try 1% of the price), get pre-approved fast, call the listing agent to learn what the seller wants, and shorten your inspection window from the standard 17 days. About 75% of homes get multiple offers, so lead with your strongest bid.
Questions this video answers
About 1% of the purchase price (example: $500,000 → $5,000).
17 days.
21 days.
As little as 10 to 14 days (once appraisal and preliminary title report are complete).
About 75%.
Chapters
Hey, thanks for joining us. Today we're talking about how to write a winning offer. Hey, it's Andrew Lamb here, ANDREW Lam Real ESTATE TEAM and today we're talking about how to write a winning offer. We have the lowest inventory I've seen in years and years here in Northern California. And that means a lot of homes are getting multiple offers. The homes that are on the market are seeing a lot of demand from the tons of buyers who are trying to get their interest rates locked in under 3% while that's still the case. So we have been dealing with helping our clients get in and have to beat out 7, 8, 12 other offers. And we have some tips and tricks to help you do that. The first thing that you're going to want to do is take a look at your earnest money deposit. Every contract that is written on the standard California contract has a spot for earnest money and typically that is 1% of the purchase price, meaning if it's a $500,000 purchase price, it's a $5,000 earnest money deposit. Now what you can do is make that a stronger deposit and that strengthens your offer. So if you come in at 2% or 3% now, that's 10,000 to 15,000 that you're saying we'll put on the line in order to get our offer accepted and make the strength of our offer more than the other potentially 5 to 10 offers you're competing against. Two would be to show the sellers that you are qualified. And there is a difference between pre qualified and pre approval. A lot of times a pre qualification letter would simply mean that you had a conversation with a lender. But a pre approval means that they actually saw your documentation and know for a fact that you can afford the home, that they've pulled your credit, they've seen your credit score, your expenses, your debt to income ratio. And it truly means that you're basically like a cash offer versus needing to still have to go through that process and prove that you can buy that home. The other option is to get a TBD approval, which means to be determined, meaning they've already sent you their underwriting, you're fully approved. The only thing they need is an appraisal and a preliminary title report. And now you're able to buy that home. And because you've gone through that process already of underwriting, you can actually close on that home in as little as 10 to 14 days. Three would be to give the sellers the, the settlement date, the closing date that they are looking for. So I always recommend when Writing an offer. And I coach agents on this as well. I tell them, call the listing agent and find out what it is the seller is looking for. It's not always price. If you can get them the terms, if you can get them, you know, if they want an additional week rent back for free because they have yet to close on their, their next home. Knowing those things in advance can really help you write a better offer than anyone else you're competing against. Four would be to waive or shorten your contingency periods. So that would mean the length of time you have to do inspections, which by default is 17 days in our California contract. And you can also shorten your appraisal contingency. So what this looks like is maybe saying 10 to 14 days instead of the default length. And again, if you've gone through that process of getting a TBD approval, you can also shorten your loan contingency from 21 days to, you know, 14. Five would be to make it personal. Write a letter to the seller letting them understand your situation, learn more about your family or your dynamics and what's bringing you to the area. And we've had a lot of success with our clients opening up about the situation and just stating how much they love the home and why it would be a perfect fit for them. Some real estate agents will present it, some sellers want to know, some sellers don't. But I always recommend going for it because you have nothing to lose. And six would be to write your best offer when you are in a market right now that is very extremely hot. 75% of offers across the country are getting mult. 75% of homes across the country are getting multiple offers right now. It is a great time to really think about putting your best foot forward initially and not waiting for a counter offer. It is not like it used to be back in 2012, 2013, where every offer would, would get a multiple counteroffer saying submit your highest and best. So I say these days, put your best foot forward. The sellers typically don't want to waste any time and they will go with the best offer they see immediately. So that means writing your highest and best offer out of the gate. So don't just try to tiptoe. You're not going to get a lot of discounts right now. Your discount really is going to be locking in a great interest rate. So just put your best foot forward, write the strongest offer you can and follow these tips and you should be definitely within the running to get the home of your dreams.
