Making an offer on a home

We found a home and we are getting ready to make an offer on this home, but what else do you need?

Well, if we did our research prior, we should know what other homes in this area are going for, giving us a good idea on how much we should offer on this home.

But there are several other variables to consider. Mainly how bad do you want this home, and how anxious is the seller to sell. We can make a fair assessment of this by what is present in the house.

If the home is vacant, bank owned or a short sale, we can assume the seller is anxious to sell. When a seller has moved out of the house, and it is now vacant, it is costing that seller a monthly expense. Banks don't like to hold properties either. Then there is the risk of vandalism, and other incidents which can cost the seller money. For some of these reasons they might be open to accepting a lower offer.

If the Sellers are still in the home, but already packed some belongings, then maybe they too are in a hurry to sell. But if the seller is still living in the home and has no urgency to move, then we have to evaluate their motivation to sell further. Maybe they just want to move to a larger home, in this case they might not be as flexible with their price.

Likewise, if you just fell in love with this home, and have seen plenty others that were not to your satisfaction, then you might consider making a full price offer or maybe even a little above, to ensure you get the home.

What do you include in when making an offer to buy a home?

There are several stipulation, or contingencies that are normal in an offer to purchase:

Inspection Clause; you want to make sure you will have the opportunity to have a professional home inspection company look over the home to make sure it is free of defects.
Financing contingency; If the purchase of this home is based on the approval of a mortgage loan, then you will need to stipulate this on the offer to purchase the home, or your could forfeit your escrow deposit if the lender declines your financing.
Clear title; You want to make sure the seller(s) have the right to sell the property and give you a clear and marketable title for the home.

So what else is left? There is plenty of legal talk on a contract to purchase real estate, and I will slowly go over and answer any questions you may have prior to making an offer on a home.

Once we have a signed and executed offer, we need a title company or Real Estate Attorney to start getting the title, deed, and other paperwork ready for us.

Begining the home hunting
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Finding a Real Estate Attorney
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