Before Making an Offer on Your Dream House

Finding your dream home is a HUGE success, especially in today's market. Houses are flying off the marketing within hours and people are losing their dream homes left and right. BUT before you get too excited about this accomplishment there are still a few others things you are going to want to do before making an official offer. 

1. Check for unpaid property taxes, liens
2. Determine offer price
3. Determine contingencies 

1. Check for unpaid property taxes. Since you hired the best real estate agent out there, they should have already done this for you. But if you agent doesn't mention this step, make sure you ask and check!

2. Determining the offer price is a key component in actually getting the house you want. And this is where you need to lean on your real estate agent's expertise to lead to the offer price that will win you the house. Not only will your Realtor help you make a competitive offer but their knowledge of the local market will help you save a lot of money by not overpaying for your home. During this step your Realtor will present to you a competitive market analysis (CMA) to help give you more insight on what you should offer. 

3. Contingencies are provisions in the contract that allows the contract to be dissolved if a specific occurrence happens, but they are not required. Again, this is where the professional expertise of your Realtor will be key. Consult with them if you want to add any to your offer. The most common contingencies for home buyers include an appraisal contingency and a financing contingency. BUT if you have a contingency, it makes your offer much less desirable to the seller. So make sure you are certain that you want to include a contingency and it is something your agent advises. 

Check back next week to learn more about making an actual offer on your dream home! This is a very important step to have down so that you can get your dream home without overpaying and without losing it to another offer.