As bidding wars soar in select areas. What is your strategy?
A few items to really think about:
LOCAL lenders with a good reputation! I can recommend them. As realtors we KNOW
who is going to take you all the way to closing on your transaction. Should you present a shady lender or non-local source they will strongly recommend their clients take other offers!
who is going to take you all the way to closing on your transaction. Should you present a shady lender or non-local source they will strongly recommend their clients take other offers!
Be READY to compete! Have your accounts in order, be ready to jump as soon as the house hits the market.Believe me if you like it so will someone else!
Escalation Clauses can help... Basically, you agree should they get other offers to go a certain amount OVER the other offers up to a certain amount. Considering some of the increases($20-90K) though, keep in mind if you aren't digging deep in certain neighborhoods this may still not win the bid!
I have a many more tricks up my sleeve when it comes to winning a bidding war. If you are ready to buy, don't let prices go higher. The more the bidding war, the higher the price. The higher the price the more likely you are to have less leverage that you can afford.
Bidding wars on home sales surge in King and Pierce County
AUGUST 3, 2014 BY
Almost 40 percent of homes sold for more than list price between April and June in King and Snohomish counties, an indicator that bidding wars are pitting buyers against each other. But not all neighborhoods are equally roiled by competition for homes
From Seattle to Issaquah and Everett to Renton, many home-buyers have pulled out all the stops to win select digs among slim pickings.
And sellers did everything they could to stoke the bidding wars.
In Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood, a renovated home on a large lot offered at $549,500 drew about 20 bids and sold in May for $687,000, or 25 percent over the list price. While that’s an extreme case, about two-thirds of Ravenna homes sold this spring went for above list price.
Across King and Snohomish counties, bidding wars are a major reason why almost 40 percent of homes sold from April to June went for more than their listed price.
In the second quarter, the Seattle metro’s housing market ranked sixth nationally for the share of homes sold above list, behind only five metros in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, according to data from Seattle-based real-estate brokerage Redfin.
“There is an intensity in Seattle that’s shared with other high-tech, high-growth cities,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at Redfin.
While bidding wars aren’t the rule across the Seattle area, they are ubiquitous in certain neighborhoods and for well-located trophy properties, according to Redfin data and interviews with real-estate agents.
For instance, in Bellevue’s Mockingbird Hill neighborhood, a four-bedroom home near top-ranked Newport High School drew four bids and sold in June for $480,000, or $20,000 over list price. The inventory in this neighborhood is among the tightest: Only nine homes were for sale there in the second quarter, and the six that sold all went for above list price.
Even in Kenmore, traditionally an affordable middle-class haven, a remodeled three-bedroom rambler attracted seven offers and sold in June for $16,000 over the $419,000 list price. The winning bidder paid cash.
Bellevue, Issaquah, Newcastle and Kenmore were the only cities in the region where more than half the single-family homes that sold went for above list price; in Seattle, nearly half the homes sold did.
Sellers fan the flames of competition with several tactics: They list homes at prices on the lower end of a perceived range, set a deadline to review multiple offers, and encourage buyers to waive all contingencies in their offer (see sidebar).
See Full article here
“They want their nest, and they can’t get it.”
Source: Seattle Times
