I know you already submitted, but is what we did last year:

1) Use a local lender, not national bank. Sellers agents prefer local lenders because they tend to use local appraisers - you know, people who actually understand the values in our market.
2) escalation clause up to what YOU are comfortable paying - not a penny more.
3) if you have the cash, offer to pay the spread between your offer and the appraisal if the appraisal comes in low
4) strong earnet $$$ deposit - though not too much of a factor really
5) get a pre-inspection if the seller is willing and waive the inspection contingency in your offer - this is a big deal to sellers
6) never waive your financing contingency
7) FHA and VA loans have more hoops to jump through = more risk for the seller. go conventional if you can.


After all this, let the chips fall where they may. If you lose, there will be others and you can move forward knowing you did the best you can. House shopping last year was an eye-opening experience for us. There are folks in DC - not just builder/flippers - with really deep pockets who will through everything including the kitchen sink at attractive listings. Good luck and godspeed.

So, OP while I wish you luck, you do actually need to have your financing secured. Pre-approval is different than pre-qualification (which is what you sound like you have). To get pre-approved you need to submit all your mortgage paperwork-- it's virtually the mortgage application. You also should go with a local lender-- the big banks will never be able to meet the low time to close that you also probably need to win- and so realtors will write you off immediately, if you come in with Wells Fargo, etc.. Don't be too frustrated. It took us a year and a half to figure this all out, and finally get the house.

OP here with an update. We put in an offer! Agent said she would be presenting our offer to the sellers tonight along with two other offers. A total of three offers doesn't seem like terrible competition, so we've got our fingers crossed!

An "all cash" offer. That's what's winning in our neighborhood, more so than waiving anything.

We had the inspection done pre offer so we knew what we were making an offer on (and then we waived inspection)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had no selling contingency (we were renting at the time) and we said we were willing to close any time between 30-90 days (depending what worked best for the sellers). We also came with proof of financing.

Other people will suggest waiving inspection, but we weren't comfortable doing that.

The house we now live in had 10 offers. 30 days closing would have taken you out of the equation automatically. Closed in 11 days.

How did you manage to close in 11 days? We talked to a lender who said they needed 30 days. We're bidding in another city with a hot market and I'm told many(most?) buyers have all cash and can close quickly.

Closing time should be a main criteria for selecting your lender. We went with a small local bank. Obviously we wanted the best rate also, so among those you pick the fastest. Make sure all your paperwork is ready to go. We reviewed most of it with the lender before making the offer.

Escalation clause.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had no selling contingency (we were renting at the time) and we said we were willing to close any time between 30-90 days (depending what worked best for the sellers). We also came with proof of financing.

Other people will suggest waiving inspection, but we weren't comfortable doing that.

The house we now live in had 10 offers. 30 days closing would have taken you out of the equation automatically. Closed in 11 days.

How did you manage to close in 11 days? We talked to a lender who said they needed 30 days. We're bidding in another city with a hot market and I'm told many(most?) buyers have all cash and can close quickly.

OP, do what you are comfortable with in the long run.

Anonymous wrote:We had no selling contingency (we were renting at the time) and we said we were willing to close any time between 30-90 days (depending what worked best for the sellers). We also came with proof of financing.

Other people will suggest waiving inspection, but we weren't comfortable doing that.

The house we now live in had 10 offers. 30 days closing would have taken you out of the equation automatically. Closed in 11 days.

Anonymous wrote:OP, please don't bid on this house. Instead, step back and take a couple weeks to familiarize yourself with the real estate process and the market, get yourself a good buyer's agent, and line up your financing ducks. Your future self will thank you for not going into a half-million+ deal completely blind.

We are already familiar with the process and the market. Have been looking casually for about three years and just getting active now. Had a preapproval a couple years ago but ended up not bidding on anything and we were just trying to decide whether to stick with the same lender or a different one, and what everyone's experiences were bidding against others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please don't bid on this house. Instead, step back and take a couple weeks to familiarize yourself with the real estate process and the market, get yourself a good buyer's agent, and line up your financing ducks. Your future self will thank you for not going into a half-million+ deal completely blind.

Agree with this statement.

And don't waive anything that you are not prelared to deal with the long term implications of.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to waive everything, have a huge down payment, huge earnest money and documented pre approved financing (if any). If you are lacking any of those, you are out of the running, automatically.

Our buyer bought in cash, technically before the house was listed, though we say he was was the first one that looked at the house. He knew he wanted it before it was on sale, seeing the inside sealed the deal in minutes.

Obviously, if it was not beautiful inside, he would have moved on, but we still would have had multiple interested buyers. We gave it to him for asking price. We had already purchased our next house, and decided to cut ties and invest that particular money in more lucrative investments. It worked out for everyone involved.

The faster you can do things, the more money freed up (from investments, whatever), the better.

Ladies and Gentlemen - Your winner for Humble Brag of the day! Maybe not even so humble upon re-reading. Cough*douche*cough.

Humble brags are anonymous? Really?

Anonymous wrote:OP, please don't bid on this house. Instead, step back and take a couple weeks to familiarize yourself with the real estate process and the market, get yourself a good buyer's agent, and line up your financing ducks. Your future self will thank you for not going into a half-million+ deal completely blind.

Agree with this statement.

And don't waive anything that you are not prelared to deal with the long term implications of.

Anonymous wrote:You have to waive everything, have a huge down payment, huge earnest money and documented pre approved financing (if any). If you are lacking any of those, you are out of the running, automatically.

Our buyer bought in cash, technically before the house was listed, though we say he was was the first one that looked at the house. He knew he wanted it before it was on sale, seeing the inside sealed the deal in minutes.

Obviously, if it was not beautiful inside, he would have moved on, but we still would have had multiple interested buyers. We gave it to him for asking price. We had already purchased our next house, and decided to cut ties and invest that particular money in more lucrative investments. It worked out for everyone involved.

The faster you can do things, the more money freed up (from investments, whatever), the better.

Ladies and Gentlemen - Your winner for Humble Brag of the day! Maybe not even so humble upon re-reading. Cough*douche*cough.