Blog Stories Making a 5% down payment work in a seller's market

Making a 5% down payment work in a seller’s market

By Living Room Realty, April 30, 2021

My clients Adam and Natascha have been fixing to get into their first home for a couple of years now. We’ve been keeping in touch, and recently I encouraged them to reach out to a lender and see what kind of options they might have. They are qualified for a purchase, but only have 5% down, which can be a challenge when competing against so many other offers in this market. One strategy that I often recommend is to keep an eye out for listings that are sitting on the market. Sometimes this is because the house has a very challenging flaw, or needs a lot of work. Sometimes it’s because it’s overpriced, and catching it with a lower offer right before the sellers drop the price is a strategy that I’ve found to be successful.

We found a house near Alberta that had recently come back on the market, but it was receiving a lot of attention. Undeterred, we pushed forward with an offer. My clients really wanted this house, and so I worked the phone lines/text lines and stayed in close communication with the listing agent. We sent addendums adjusting the terms to stay competitive: tweaking the price, inspection terms, appraisal language, and generally pulling the levels of the offer until we finally got it. My buyers beat out 4 other offers, including one with similar terms and 25% down. It doesn’t always work out this way, but a combination of tenacity and their willingness to stretch and be flexible made for a winning combination. I’m so thrilled for my buyers they got their house, and we close on it this Monday.

Please reach out to me and we can talk about how to get you qualified, off and running, and into your next home!

Living Room Realty

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