10 Steps to Win Over Sellers

Helping eager buyers get the home of their dreams isn’t so easy in this unsettled market. Here are 10 tips for making sure sellers won’t turn up their nose at an offer:

1. Make sure the buyers are pre-approved for a mortgage (not to be confused with being pre-qualified) so they can close in about 10 days.
2. Study the buyer. Have they made an offer on another home or are they working against any other kind of deadline?
3. Make a clean offer – no requests for help with closing costs or other contingencies.
4. Include an automatic escalation clause – say $500 over the highest competing bid. (Insist that seller show the offers in writing.)
5. Sweeten the offer with a bonus if the deal gets done quickly.
6. Offer 10 percent of the purchase price in earnest money.
7. Waive the appraisal. The buyer will have to be willing to pay any difference between the selling price and what the bank is willing to lend.
8. Consider waiving the inspection.
9. Offer the full list price, preferably in cash.
10. Write a love letter to sellers, telling them all the things your client loves about their home.

Source: MSN Real Estate, Marilyn Lewis (08/03/2010)