You Might Still Win That Bidding War

1. A Backup Offer Is A Secret Weapon – It’s hard to accept that you’ll never be able to know the reason you lost the house to someone else. There are so many reasons…maybe they offered more money, or their terms were slightly better than yours. What you can do is ask the seller if they’d consider your offer as a backup. Vintage-House-34

2. Backup Offers – Sellers love backup offers because it puts pressure on the original accepted offer to close the deal quickly, knowing that there is another buyer ready and eager to swipe it.

3. Timing– Once a seller has a deal on the table and it is progress, they are already picturing the time in the near future where they’ll finally be rid of the home. However, things go wrong all the time on the buyers’ side of the transaction, and when something does go wrong, they’ll be contacting you for your backup offer, even if its lower than the first.

4. The Inspection – Sometimes after an inspection, the house falls out because there are problems that the buyer doesn’t want to deal with, can’t handle, or the seller won’t credit or fix. But, in reality, the good news for you is those issues won’t go away. The original buyer may walk away, and you can swoop in.

5. Loans – As loan qualifications become tougher, more home buyers are finding they can’t get their loan approved, and they may have to back out of the deal. If you have a pre-approval letter, or a secured loan from a bank, you’ll be next in line.

6. Backup Date Expiration – Set a time for your backup offer to expire. The seller will be nervous that if something goes wrong, they won’t have a Plan B to lean on. Also, a time limit will force the hand of your competition, which may make them unable to close the deal.

7. Get it In Writing – Once the seller agrees to accept your offer as backup, make sure to get a a full agreement that is signed by the both of you. This agreement should clearly state the price and contingencies.

Check out this great article on The Key to the Bidding War for a House , and be sure to watch this video for Tips on Winning Bidding Wars.

One thought on “You Might Still Win That Bidding War

  • March 1, 2016 at 4:30 am
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    I had a great deal of luck when buying my house by doing a backup offer. I never thought it would actually work, as there were two buyers in front of me. It all depends on the situation and the property. It helps to stay in front of the listing agent and let them know that you want the property. When you let them know you are truly interested and the one they should do business with…it works..if that property falls out of escrow, you’ll likely get a chance at it.

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