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Just found the perfect house for you and your family, but not sure how to find your way through all the arrangements? We will help you with some useful experiences in this article. For a worthwhile home, it is not unusual to have 15 or even more applicants in the competition, which can be very disappointing for an inexperienced buyer. I know this very well from my daily work with clients, being a realtor in Toronto for more than 25 years. Naturally this article is not enough for a greenhorn to become a successful buyer, but in any case it can bring you some useful tips and prevent you from spending more money than necessary.

Get pre-qualified

Prospective clients who can get prequalified for a bank loan always have a better chance of winning the deal than applicants without a proper financial background. Of course, it wouldn’t make a good impression if your financing was not sure and the vendor found out about it – in that case all other tricks won’t be able to save you.

Find out the seller’s preferences

It is always good if you know the details about the vendor’s preferences concerning the prospective buyer, as it can save you some time going after an offer where you are not able to meet the requirements. It is therefore advised to find out all the requirements accompanying the sale of a property you want to bid on. It is better to give up in case you find out you are not able to meet them. If the demands are such that you can meet them, work with your agent on a brief letter that will go together with your bid. This will give you an opportunity to present yourself to the seller and enhance the strong points of your bid.

No low-ball, no even cut off marks

The last thing you want to do is to insult the seller by your low-ball offer, because the seller most likely will rather sell it to almost anybody else then you. Once you damage your reputation, it is not improved even after bidding a higher offer later. It is recommended to offer about $1,800 to $4,800 more than the highest expected proposal. For example the most the owner expects is about $470,000. Try adding some money and come to $473,164 – the offered price doesn’t have to be an even number!

Down payment

A nice large down payment of 10% to 20% always created a good effect. Of course in most cases you can try to settle the final amount of your down payment with the seller after the contract has been secured and usually with a success outcome. What really matters is the money at the table when you close so that your contract makes a good impression.

Good faith deposit

This is a really useful tip, however strong it may look. Pay the earnest money deposit as high as you can afford, as part of the down payment. The earnest money deposit would be lost if you change your mind later and decide not to go through with the deal. It doesn’t matter to you anyway, because the earnest money deposit is the ground of the down payment in any case, but for the seller it means a lot. If you do this, the seller understands you have a serious interest in buying the house. After closing the business, you can usually rearrange the down payment value, so what matters here is the good faith deposit, showing how interested you really are in the property.

Propose a short rent-free stay

It may be a good idea to offer a free stay to the seller in their home for another one or two weeks after selling it. You can mention this in your letter going along with your proposal. This might be the final aspect that plays for you to win the deal, as in a different situation the seller would have to pay some rent, being no longer the owner of the house.