What You Should Know About Making a Real Estate Offer
Once you're pre-approved for a real estate loan and you've survived the rigors of Tucson home hunting, the time will come when you find a house that you'd like to call home. But first, you'll need to make an offer.
The real estate offer is the first step in the negotiation process. A good basic offer includes the price you're willing to pay for your Tucson home, your financing terms, and contingencies, such as specifying what will happen if negative findings come up during the inspection.
Purchase contracts vary from state to state. Regardless of where you live, if you're making an offer, you want it to be carefully worded and well thought out.
In the book "Home Buying for Dummies (Hungry Minds Inc., 2001)," authors Eric Tyson and Ray Brown say there are three key elements to a good offer.
Begin, they say, with a realistic offering price. Your Tucson REALTOR® will help you with this, but basically you want to come up with a price based on similar homes sold in the Tucson neighborhood in the past six months. You'll also want to keep the local conditions in mind. In other words, if homes are selling quickly and many homes are receiving multiple offers, you'll need to bid competitively.
The second element to include in your offer is realistic financing terms. If you're pre-approved for a real estate loan, be sure to include that in the offer so the seller knows you're serious. It will also give you an edge over any other offers that don't have a pre-approved loan.
And finally, include a property inspection clause. What if it's determined the homes roof needs to be replaced, or the heating and cooling system is faulty and it will take $3,000 to fix it?
"It's smart to use property inspection clauses that enable you to reopen negotiations regarding any necessary corrective work after you've received the inspection reports," the homebuying Dummies book says.
Meanwhile, Freddie Mac says there are additional items that should be covered in the real estate offer:
* Any concessions you'd like the seller to make, like paying part of the
closing costs or providing an allowance to get worn carpet replaced.
* Real Estate financing contingencies. If you're in a hot seller's market, your real estate loan should already be approved. But if it's not, you may choose to make the offer contingent on approval of a mortgage with a specific rate and terms.
* Conveyances. This includes what is included in the homes sale. For instance, a refrigerator.
* The amount of your deposit.
Also, most real estate offers include a deadline for a response, perhaps
three days.
* Finally, put everything in writing. Don't rely on verbal agreements. If the seller tells you he'll provide a carpet allowance for the shabby avocado-colored carpet but it isn't specified in the offer, then you may not get the money - and be stuck with green carpet.
Written by Michele Dawson
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