Competing Against
Cash Offers Part 3.
Writing a clean offer
by Ron Benning, Broker
CBRE# 01058898
In our previous article we looked at waiving certain
contingencies to make your offer more competitive against cash offers or other
offers. In part #1 we talked about the
loan contingency, in part #2 we talked about the appraisal contingency. In this
article we will look at the remaining contingencies and writing a clean offer.
As I had mentioned previously, the best thing you can do to
make your offer stand out is to find ways to simplify the offer and remove as
much uncertainty as possible from the offer. The buyer’s investigation period is normally 17 days from
acceptance.
These contingencies are as primarily the:
Reports and
disclosures- Which are the seller disclosures, Rental agreements, tenant
estoppel certificates, and any financial information.
Property
investigation- Whole house inspection, Pest inspection, Roof inspection, Etc.
All the above-mentioned contingencies can realistically be shorted
up to a period of between 7-12 days from acceptance.
According to the contract you have a certain number of days
after receipt to review the documents provided by the seller and they don’t
take more than 30 minutes to an hour read them all.
In a competitive market, sellers are not providing a home
warranty and pest inspections and home inspections are typically not being
written into the contract. You can still get them, but by not putting them in the contract it is much cleaner and the lender really does not want to know about them anyway.
By avoiding these being in the written contract this
eliminates the need for the seller to counter offer these items out.
If your loan is approved upfront a 25-30 day escrow may be
possible provided the appraisal is ordered right away.
By keeping these few suggestions in mind your offer will be
just a little simpler and may stand out just a little more than your competitors
offer. This is not to say you can’t ask for whatever you want, but the best offer usually wins. Remember there is no prize for second place.
For additional questions Ron Can be reached at (916)
730-3846.