You’ve listed your house, you’ve shown it a few times, and now offers are beginning to come in. But how do you know which one to choose? Price isn’t the only or the primary deciding factor. It could easily be a mistake to just say yes to the highest bidder. There is in fact a lot more to consider, such as the buyer’s financing and the contingencies. To help you out, then, here’s how to choose the right offer when selling your house in Chicago.
Plan and Prioritize With Your Agent
Before you can do anything well, you have to get clear on exactly what you’re trying to do and what your priorities are. So selling your house in Chicago should begin with consulting your agent.
Before you list your house, you should sit down with your Chicago agent and hammer out your selling priorities. This will give you a plan to work from in choosing the right offer. Do you need to sell fast owing to a divorce or job relocation? In that case, an early, decent offer would be the right one. Or are you experiencing financial distress and have no cash for repairs? If so, a lower offer without repair requests may be the right one.
These are the kinds of things your agent can help you with to determine the right offer in selling your house in Chicago. To find out more about this, contact a Chicago agent at (872) 231-5264.
Find Out About Pre-approval
A good way to vet buyers and weed out offers is to determine whether a buyer is pre-approved for a mortgage loan. Doing so will keep you from wasting time on shaky offers and will make the process of selling your house in Chicago much smoother.
A pre-approved buyer will likely get financing, and her offer will be better than an offer from a buyer who is merely pre-qualified. Pre-approval is a more rigorous process and – if nothing major changes in the buyer’s financial situation – almost guarantees that the buyer will get financing. A pre-qualified buyer, on the other hand, may be turned down by her lender after making an offer.
Determine the Kind of Mortgage
In a similar vein, you should also find out what kind of mortgage the buyer is getting. This, too, can impact whether an offer is right for you.
Selling your house in Chicago isn’t as straightforward as accepting a good offer with guaranteed financing. The kind of mortgage matters because different mortgages are often accompanied by different problems and issues. Some require higher credit scores, some require higher down payments, and some require that more repairs be made.
With an FHA loan, for example, you’ll have to make sure your home meets certain requirements with respect to its condition. Your best bet, then, is to have your agent help you sift through these mortgage issues in order to choose the right offer.
Consider the Contingencies
And then you have to carefully consider the contingencies in an offer when selling your house in Chicago. Too many contingencies or the wrong kind could very well be deal killers.
Basically, contingencies are clauses stating that certain things have to occur or be done before the deal can go through. The most common are inspection, appraisal, buyer-financing, and buyer-home-sale contingencies. Some contingencies are riskier for sellers, so you absolutely must carefully consider contingencies when determining the right offer.
This is an area where most sellers lean heavily on their agents. But any offer with too many contingencies should probably be rejected.
Be Able to Recognize a Strong Offer
And when selling your house in Chicago you need to be able to recognize a strong offer in order to choose the right one. The three most important elements of a strong offer are:
- Buyer’s financial strength (re-approval, large down payment, and large earnest money deposit)
- No concessions or only a few with little risk
- Buyer flexibility (primarily) on the closing date
Get the Agent Advantage
You can, of course, choose the right offer all on your own, but most sellers find that they need the assistance of an experienced agent to make that determination. Your local Chicago agent can help you mitigate the risk and get the best deal. Get the help you need when selling your house in Chicago: contact us today at (872) 231-5264.