Relocating to Orange County? Orange County Homes For Sale – Orange County Real Estate

Orange County Buyer’s Agent – How to Win Against Multiple Home Offers in Very Competitive Orange County Housing Market.

Part Two

Many times when a family is relocating to Orange County or if they are simply relocating within Orange County they will find themselves within a multiple offer situation, whether it is a very appealing listing price, very desirable Orange County home for sale or simply the time of the year. How does the aggressive Orange County home buyer increase their chances of winning against other competing home buyers in a very hyper-sensitive Orange County sellers market? In part one of this blog I talked about the obvious: Coming in with the highest bid and also having a clean offer (lack of contingencies – having the pre-approval letter from your lender). In part two of this blog I will cover the down payment and earnest money deposit.

Regardless of whether you are pre-approved with your lender or not, the seller will always be more impressed with your offer vs. a similar competing offer from another home buyer that is pre-approved with their lender as well if your down payment is greater than theirs. It is just plain commonsense that a seller is more impressed with a twenty percent down payment than they would be with a five percent down payment. In this scenario, if you competing against someone with the exact same purchase price, exact same closing time horizon, no contingencies but you are coming in with twenty percent down and your competition is coming in with ten percent down, you win 99% of the time!

The other important part of your down payment that you need to consider is how much you want to convert in to your earnest money deposit – this makes an very strong impression on the seller when they are considering your offer. The earnest money is the part of your down payment which you simply want to put down a month earlier than you would normally do than at the closing of the escrow. This lets the seller know that your intentions are to move through with the purchase of the home and you are putting your money where your mouth is. Technically if you put your earnest money down and then break the contract you would lose your earnest money deposit. However, in Orange County, CA, this is hardly if ever enforced, if something goes sideways the homeowner (and the Realtor) usually have too much at stake to try and pry this money out of the buyer in a court of law.

So the key factors to coming in with the winning offer when you are relocating to Orange County, CA or simply relocating within Orange County is to:

• Come in with the highest offer
• Come in with a clean offer
• Have a good down payment
• Don’t be afraid to put a chunk of that down payment in to the form of a earnest money deposit.

These ingredients will nearly always lead to your family coming away with the keys of your next dream home in Orange County.

Greg Steinaker