Home buyers have never had as much difficulty finding and getting their real estate offers accepted as they have in 2021.
A friend in the industry recently shared a story about a client of his who had an extremely tough time getting her home offer accepted. After losing four bids to offers that were over $100k in asking price, they finally succeeded in securing the 5th home they put an offer on…a home that already had 14 other offers.
Why did she keep losing these bids? She did everything correctly:
Obtained an airtight pre-approval letter from her lender
Offered the fastest closing possible
Removed all contingencies
Had the best loan terms
Planned for appraisal shortfalls
Had her lender call the listing agent to tout our buying strength
Was prepared to meet a counter offer from the seller
Over the last 12 years, home builders have built drastically too few homes to keep up with the booming number of first-time homebuyers. This has created a supply and demand imbalance that is causing a tremendous amount of stress and hardship for those struggling to get their home offers accepted (which is basically everyone).
This is why NEO Home Loans has created the Bulletproof Buyer program – to solve these challenges and help homebuyers get their offers accepted even when faced with stiff competition.
Our Bulletproof Buyer program aims to solve the three main problems homebuyers face today:
Lack of knowledge and understanding as to WHY the housing market is the way it is today
Appraisals consistently coming in low
Inability to compete with all-cash offers
1. Understand WHY the housing market is the way it is
The first problem we are aiming to solve with this program is the false assumption that the real estate market is at a peak and is imminently going to crash. This is clearly not true if you understand the demographic trends of the millennials and the supply imbalances because builders have built not enough homes.
During our initial consultation with you, we will carefully guide you through the market data and help you understand why it is moving the way it is. Our goal with this is to help you feel more comfortable and confident when shopping for homes.
2. Execute an Appraisal Gap strategy
The second thing that we want to educate you on is an Appraisal Gap strategy. If you’ve gone through the appraisal process recently, you know that appraisals are inherently flawed in how they are created. An appraiser looks at past sales – typically going back as far as six months to find comparable homes in the area. The problem with that strategy is that the value of the home that the seller is setting is based on today’s value…and there’s a gap between today’s value and the comparables that the appraiser has chosen over the previous six months. That gap oftentimes results in the appraised value being lower than the current value the seller is willing to sell for. Our Appraisal Gap Strategy will show you how to make those numbers work and still be able to buy your home if the appraisal comes in a little bit low.
3. Compete with all-cash offers
The third and final challenge we have to solve for in this market is that 25% of all offers across the country are currently being submitted in all cash. If you’re one of the 75% of buyers today who require a mortgage, you’re competing with cash offers that can close in as little as one week – that is a very tough market to compete against.
How do you compete with all-cash offers? By utilizing our pre-underwriting program, where we have you go all the way through the underwriting process, get a full approval, and in many cases can close as quickly as cash with financing.
The other solution is simple: just submit an all-cash offer. NEO Home Loans has partnered with a company called Revive who will buy the home on your behalf in cash in as little as 10 days so you have a cash offer in hand when you go to buy the home.
Conclusion
With our Bulletproof Buyer program, you will be able to confidently offer up to your maximum purchase price and compete with all-cash offers. You will also have the ability to remove any loan contingencies with confidence because you’ve already been through underwriting.
At NEO, we promise to advise you and never sell you. Our ambition is for you to become a successful homeowner, free of regret and wealthier because of our relationship. If you would like to learn more about the Bulletproof Buyer program and start putting a plan in place to build and submit a competitive home offer, contact us today.