It’s time to get creative
So you’ve found a great agent, they’ve helped you price your home appropriately, and together you’ve created a solid, provable marketing plan; now what?
As the old saying goes, money talks. Coming in with an offer that is at or over asking price is one way to grab the seller’s attention. From there, consider using a little creativity to sweeten the deal.
“I’ve seen buyers doing things like offering free occupancy after closing to make their offer more attractive,” notes Lagrois.
While most home sales require the seller to have vacated the property by closing day, offering extended occupancy allows a buffer of additional time before the seller has to be out. This can work to the advantage of both parties by alleviating time pressure to pack up and move, so consider keeping this handy tool in your negotiation arsenal.
Another uncommon but potentially helpful option is to offer to write a kick-out clause into your contract for the seller. This means that the seller retains the option to accept a better offer if one comes in while their transaction with you is still in progress.
If this sounds risky for you, that’s because it can be! But if you’ve fallen head-over-heels for a particular home to the point where you’re willing to offer a kick-out clause, build in protection for yourself and be sure that the verbiage includes a first right of refusal for you as the buyer. Meaning, if the seller wants to accept another offer, you’ll have up to 72 hours to remove some contingencies from your contract so that it’s more attractive to the seller and you can still move forward with the purchase.
Still feeling stuck? Let HomeLight Buy Before You Sell lend a hand
For ultimate buying power, consider using HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell to purchase your next home. As noted above, sellers prefer offers with few or no contingencies. With HomeLight Buy Before You Sell, we give you a back-up offer on your home, allowing you to make an offer with no sales contingency, which in turn will be more attractive to sellers.
Here’s what you can expect to happen when you use Buy Before You Sell:
- Unlock your equity: Tell us a little bit about your situation, and we’ll help you unlock a portion of your equity as quickly as a few hours later. We’ll tell you how much you can access based on factors like your home value, outstanding loans, and your financials.
- Use your funds: You can put that equity toward the down payment on your next home, moving expenses, closing expenses, or property repairs.
- Make a strong offer: Now, you’re ready to go out and make a non-contingent offer on your dream home — in competitive markets, this can be a game changer.
- Sell your existing home: We’ll work with a top HomeLight agent to list your vacant home on the market to attract the strongest offer possible. Having already moved out, you won’t have to worry about selling a house that you’re still trying to live in.
It takes only a few minutes to find out if your home is a good fit for the HomeLight Buy Before You Sell. There’s no cost or obligation to apply. With our innovative equity unlock calculator, you can be approved in 24 hours or less. Once approved, you can submit a strong offer with no home sale contingency. Then, you can sell your existing home with more peace of mind, and possibly staged to earn up to 13% more proceeds.
The road to the closing table
No matter how you choose to navigate your contingent offer, remember the importance of transparency and urgency. When a seller has accepted your thoughtful (and perhaps rather clever) offer, it’s time to kick into overdrive and get things done.
“Buyers have to be willing to move forward with their due diligence right away,” says Lagrois. “Sitting around and waiting is definitely not in anybody’s interest.”
Header Image Source: (Backgroundy / Shutterstock)
