The Flyhomes team helps homebuyers in some of the nation’s most competitive markets: the Bay Area, Southern California, Seattle, Portland, and Boston. With this spring’s market trends of rocketing sale-to-list price ratio and diminishing days on market, buyer frustration is at a high point. Finding ways for buyers to win in multiple-offer situations is the strong suit at Flyhomes.
The team’s top six tips for helping buyers stay motivated will help you and your clients prepare to win a home in a competitive market.
Get pre-underwritten. While doing the legwork for underwriting is substantial compared to pre-approval, your client will need to do that work to finalize their loan anyway. Doing it upfront for pre-underwriting gives you both confidence in their budget, which means you can give the seller certainty that your client’s funding will come through. Flyhomes consistently sees sellers choose offers for that reason.
Search with the market in mind. Appraisal gaps are a reality in today’s market, and it’s important for buyers to be aware that they may have ground to cover. For that reason as well as the likelihood of any given home selling above list price, set expectations that the top end of the search price range should be significantly under the top end of the budget.
Tour unexpected neighborhoods. At Flyhomes, buyers who are open-minded to different neighborhoods often have a less stressful experience than those that are hyper-focused on one buzzy zip code. It’s worth a drive to explore adjacent areas with less interest.
Be open to PMI. Buyers should be aware that putting less than 20% down is more common than they may think, and that they may be able to put more of their budget toward covering an appraisal gap if they buy with less down. With today’s lower mortgage interest rates, their month-to-month mortgage payment even with PMI factored in may be very reasonable.
Make it easy for the seller. When there are multiple offers on the table, it’s even more important to send a strong summary email along with your offer and to follow up regularly while the seller is considering their options.
Start with your strongest offer. Even with unprecedented levels of competition, some buyers are tempted to test how low they can go. Instead of testing the bottom, assume the seller won’t counter. They’ll just move on to the next offer.
Being ready to offer quickly is also key to winning in a competitive market, and considering these tips before your client finds the home they want to buy will help you both feel ready to jump when the moment arrives.
Flyhomes is the real estate startup that uses financial innovation to add speed and certainty to the homebuying process. With $40 million in venture funding, more than 2,200 homebuyers and sellers helped, and more than $2 billion in real estate transactions, Flyhomes is creating a homebuying experience people love.