HOW HOME BUYERS CAN OVERCOME TOUGH COMPETITION

Source: Kiplinger 

Redfin Chief Economist says to win in a hot market, home buyers should take advantage of technology to find homes as soon as they are listed.

Making sense of the story:
• Arm yourself with tech tools to find available homes quickly. With the variety of apps available today, you can receive listing alerts so that you're notified as soon as a home in your price range or search area hits the market.
• Buyers will gain an advantage from whatever concessions they can offer. Instead of a small earnest-money deposit, we've seen buyers put into escrow their entire down payment or even half of the purchase price.
• You needn't waive a contingency for inspection in the purchase contract. Rather, you can agree to pay the seller, say, $2,500, or next month's mortgage payment, if you walk away.
• Work with a local or reputable lender to get a preapproval for your mortgage that includes full documentation of your means to obtain a certain amount of financing in advance of a signed purchase contract. That may give you the confidence to waive a contingency for financing, and it’s almost as good as cash for closing a deal quickly.
• Because sellers can sell their homes in days but may take months to buy, you can gain leverage by offering to "rent back" their home to them for a certain number of months.

• Fall can be a good time to buy a home because prices generally peak in the summer and ease up in the fall. There's a bit less inventory, but many fewer buyers. Plus, sellers who list in the fall are serious because they must leave because of job relocation, divorce or something else that made them miss the top of the season.

Full story

http://www.kiplinger.com/article/real-estate/T010-C000-S002-how-home-buyers-can- overcome-tough-competition.html