Buying Real Estate in a Sellers Market

If you are buying Salt Lake property in a strong seller's real estate market, there are more buyers than sellers and the competition for homes is fierce. You need to plan your purchase and do everything possible to give you that edge over other buyers.

Get on top of the market by receiving new home listings in your email. Your Realtor can automate the home search process by taking your requirements for a home and setting up an automated search in the MLS. When a new home listing is entered on the MLS, this automated search will check the homes features against your requirements, if they match then the home listing is sent to you via email. You should regularly check your email for new listings and be prepared to tour the home ASAP.

You need to know what you want from a home. The best way to do this is to make a list of must have features and nice to have features. Once armed with this information, when you tour properties you can compare the homes features with your list. If the home meets all your requirements, you need to make a quick decision on if you are going to make an offer. The chances are you won't have the luxury of coming back for a second showing. The faster you make a decision, the sooner you can submit your offer and get in pole position.

The offer you submit should be a strong offer. It should be at or above the listing price (unless the property is listed above other comparable's) and should contain little or no contingencies. Because you may well be competing with other buyers your offer should be as attractive as possible. Normal offer contingencies include loan approval, appraisal, inspection and home sale. By planning your purchase you can remove some of these contingencies up front. If you get pre-approved for a loan, you can remove the loan approval contingency. If you sell your home before you make an offer, then you do not need the home sale contingency. One trend, seen especially in California, was the removal of the inspection contingency from the offer. While this does make your offer more attractive, it is very risky, especially with older homes.