Milwaukee Homebuyer Tips for Getting an Accepted Offer In 2023

Being a homebuyer in 2023 can be frustrating with low inventory, a large buyer pool, bidding wars, and higher interest rates than years past. That’s why it is critical to make your offer stand out over the competition.

The Brill Team has put together a list of tips and tricks that we’ve successfully used to get our clients from homebuyers to homeowners in 2023.

Include An Appraisal Gap: With multiple offers and bidding wars becoming the norm, sellers and listing agents want assurance that the home is going to sell for (or close to) the agreed-upon purchase price. One way to strengthen your offer and make it stand out is by including an appraisal gap. An appraisal gap is the amount of money that you are willing to pay over a low appraisal amount.

Quick Closing Times: Nobody likes waiting… and this is the same for home sellers. Writing a strong offer with a quick closing date is sure to get your offer noticed. Work with a lender who can close your loan quickly. Working with our preferred lenders, The Brill Team has been able to make our clients homeowners in as little as 14 days!

Provide The Seller's Occupancy: In a hot real estate market with the sales process moving quickly, sellers might need post-closing occupancy. This could be for several reasons such as needing the proceeds of their current property to be used towards purchasing their new home, waiting for a home to finish being built, or having more time to move out of the property. With multiple competitive offers on properties being the norm, providing a generous and lenient post-closing occupancy clause could make your offer stand out.

A Larger Amount of Earnest Money: Earnest money is put down before closing on a house to show that you are serious about purchasing it. This can be thought of as a “good faith” deposit that is usually delivered after an offer is accepted and held in a non-interest-bearing trust account until closing. Typically, a buyer will put down between 1-2% of a home’s purchase price for earnest money and deliver it to the seller within five days. Savvy home buyers can make their offers stand out by putting down a larger amount of earnest money and delivering it within the first 24-48 hours after offer acceptance.

Waive Contingencies: A contingency is a clause in real estate that buyers include when making an offer on a home. These contingencies allow the buyer to back out of buying a house if the terms of the clause are not met. The most standard contingencies in a real estate transaction are the home inspection, appraisal contingency, and financing contingency. Offers that have these contingencies tend to make the sales process longer, which is normally not wanted by a seller. In today’s hot real estate market buyers who are willing to waive contingencies are seeing great success in getting their offers accepted.

Pay For the Full Year of Property Taxes: In a typical real estate transaction the buyer and seller will both pay for the property taxes. Generally, the seller is responsible for the taxes through the day prior to closing and the buyer from the day of closing through the end of the year. Homebuyers looking to purchase a home and make their offer stand out can incentivize the seller to select their offer by agreeing to pay the full year of property taxes.

Work With a Competent Realtor: With such a competitive marketplace, it is most critical to work with a realtor who is experienced, accessible, communicative, responsive, and diligent. At the Brill Team, we go above and beyond devoting endless hours working with our clients to help them achieve their real estate goals. Our passion, knowledge, creativity, and problem-solving skills position our clients to win.