Evangeline Scott talks about ways to strengthen your offer as a buyer.
How can you get your offers accepted as a buyer in this competitive market? You need to think of several things, but most of them have to do with the financing. To talk about all those specifics, we sat down with Evangeline Scott from Reliance Home Loans.
She recommends getting fully pre-approved upfront. It will put your offer in a strong position, but it will also help you understand exactly how aggressive you can be as a buyer. You can figure out what your maximum monthly payment and out-of-pocket contribution are and use that to settle into a strategy. This goes beyond just what you are qualified for. We care about your limits; what are you comfortable paying?
She is happy to sit down and have a conversation with you about the process. Buying a house is a big deal, so it’s good to meet with someone willing to go over everything with you. You simply won’t know what you qualify for without having your credit pulled. Any ethical lender won’t give you an approval letter without pulling your credit, and you shouldn’t be looking at houses without an approval letter.
At the end of the day, it’s better to check your credit ahead of time. When we first looked at buying a house, we didn’t want our credit pulled because everyone had told us it would hurt our score. When we actually looked, something showed up from 10 years ago that we weren’t even aware of.
If you look ahead of time, you can adjust and plan better. Evangeline loves to go over the credit report, run over different scenarios, and consider each option. All of that is part of getting educated at the start of the process.
Another thing to talk about is your no-regrets number. How much are you willing to pay for your dream house? Today we’re seeing homes selling for 115% of asking price, so you really need to know exactly how much you’re willing to pay to get the house. In this market, you need to put your best offer first because you might not get a chance to renegotiate.
Buying a home is not a scary process. You only hear horror stories when the buyer doesn’t have a great team to handle the process for them. We’re seeing a lot of contingency removals right now. Some of the practices from our neighbors in the Bay Area have come over into our market, so we’re having to balance protecting our buyers and keeping them competitive. A lot of it comes down to conversations about if we can shorten the inspection period or remove the appraisal contingency.
There’s so much more we want to talk about. If you have any questions about our market or your next purchase, we would love to hear from you. Just call or email us.
