Writing a Winning Purchase Offer for Your California Home

It can be TOUGH to write a winning purchase offer for your California home in today’s hot market. Just how hot is the Sacramento housing market right now?

Compared to this time last year, the median sales price is up, active listings are down, and pending sales are up, too. For buyers, the most important piece of information may be that active listings were at 1,495 in June, down from 2,362 at the same time last year.

This means that competition for your perfect house is stiff, and you’re going to have to be on your A game with a winning purchase offer in hand. So, how do you do that?

With New Way Mortgage’s help, of course! There are a few things we can do on our end to help you write a strong offer for your dream home.

Obtain a Lender Pre-Approval

One of the most important things you NEED to do before you start house hunting is obtain a solid pre-approval from your lender. You’ll submit that pre-approval letter with your purchase contract.

A pre-approval is where we look at your finances, your credit score, and other lending factors and decide how much money we may be able to lend you. Remember, a pre-approval is not a commitment to lend, but showing that you’ve been thoroughly vetted and can afford to buy the home carries a lot of weight with sellers.

But you don’t want just any mortgage lender in a competitive situation like this. Enter New Way Mortgage. We’re fast and efficient and can get you that pre-approval right away so you can start the fun part—shopping!

Get New Way Mortgage on Your Side

At New Way Mortgage, our top priority is working FOR our borrowers. That means that we’re not afraid to pick up the phone and BRAG about you to any and all real estate agents involved in a transaction.

Having a mortgage lender who is willing to fight for you with your agent is a double-punch combo.

When we say we’ll do everything humanly possible to get your loan to close, we mean it—even if we have to enter into the boxing ring to make it happen.

If your transaction goes awry in any way, our top-of-the-line customer service can make all the difference between getting your dream home and losing it.

Waive Purchase Contingencies and Be Generous

Sometimes, you just have to throw a little something extra in your offer to win. In a hot housing market, that might mean being willing to waive some contingencies.

It’s not uncommon in today’s market for sellers to obtain an inspection BEFORE listing their home. Due to the challenges the industry is facing from COVID-19, the inspection process has become quite the bottleneck in a home sale transaction. If a seller can give you an inspection report, you might be willing to waive the inspection contingency.

It’s a similar story with the appraisal. If you’re putting money down on a home, your lender may not even need a full appraisal. If you’re willing to waive this contingency, you may be able to close more quickly.

Writing a friendly offer can also be helpful in these circumstances. Don’t include demands in your offer that may annoy a seller, including asking them to pay costs that buyers typically bear or demanding that they move out at a certain time on closing day. Your generosity may just set you apart from your competition.

Being willing to waive some contingencies to close (as long as you feel comfortable doing so) and writing a generous offer just might be the way to your seller’s heart and winning your offer.

Offer to Close Quickly

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, sellers want to close quickly on the deal. If you can offer a quick closing timeframe, that might be just what you need to edge out the competition.

With New Way Mortgage, we have access to a variety of different lenders to shop your loan for the best placement. If a lender can’t meet our expectations for closing, it’s on to the next.

The mortgage industry is facing historic demand right now and timeframes have slowed for everyone, but we’re still doing everything we can to close loans quickly and on time. The best thing you can do is be pro-active by getting us all the documents we need when you submit your application. Doing this work upfront can really help speed things along. Staying engaged with us throughout the process helps us a lot, too.

If you’re ready to start the process of buying your new home, go to www.newwaymortgage.com/applynow or call or text us at (916) 465-6639. Let us help you write that winning purchase offer for your California home today!