10 ways to get your offer accepted

In light of my earlier post about a new record set in the Toronto Real Estate Board for highest percent of list price ever offered and accepted, I thought it would be beneficial to talk about what are the different ways that you can make sure your offer stand out from the competition and accepted by the seller.

1. Offer over asking price – A lot of sellers are concentrated on the dollars hence it’s the first item they look for in an offer.
2. Letters to sellers – This is an item that I’ve used numerous times and occasionally works with sellers who would ignore a higher offer to favor someone they can relate to.
3. Shorten your condition periods – It’s best to review your conditional period and reduce them.  When making purchases of condominiums, you can offer to pay for the status certificate, usually a charge of $100 for the seller, or if there have been lots of properties closed in the near past, remove the condition
4. Offer an all cash offer – Remove all conditions from your offer making it a firm and all cash offer for the seller.
5. Review the details of what the seller is expecting with the listing agent before hand.  Don’t call the listing agent repeatedly to find out about what’s happening with the offers.
6. Present your offers in person (or at least have your agent be present) at the presentation table
7. Offer a bigger deposit – Larger deposits show that your buyers have cash available for their down payment and are serious about the purchase
8. Make your deposit herewith and provide a check along with the offer when presenting
9. Offer a letter from the lender stating that your buyers are qualified for the purchase being made
10. Offer to pay for the seller’s closing costs

Above are some of the items that I’ve used in my career.  What other tactics or strategies have you used?  Please leave a comment in the section below.

Happy Hunting!