Putting in a bid for a house????

What exactly do you have to do to place a bid on a house? How quickly can it be done? Is pre-approval necessary or not?

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

You either call the listing agent, or have your agent call for you.

Just tell them what house you are interested in and that you'd like to place an offer of $XXX. They usually ask to see/fax the pre-approval. Or at least they did in my experience. They should get back to you bc even if your offer is low, they are still supposed to present all offers to the sellers. Then they will call you back (usually pretty quickly) and they will tell you if the sellers accepted, or they will come back with a counter offer.

I was really nervous when I placed my first offer, but in retropsect it wasnt that bad.

Good Luck!

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

Thanks! So pre-approval is necessary???

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

You contact the listing agent and state that you want to put an offer. If you pre-approved, it will be better for you, but it's not necessary based on the R/E agents I've spoken with during our house looking process. You can put down a binder fee to show the owner you're serious as well - for one house, we put $100 down at binder signing when we put a bid in.

FM if you want a great Mortgage person! We're using HSBC bank.

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

You should have a pre-approval. Is it absolutely necessary to put in an offer? no. But you offer will be taken much more seriously by the buyer if you have one. It will show them that you are ready to get a mortgage and the process will already be started by the time you go into contract. Its also a good thing to do because it will give you an idea of the amount you will be able to be approved for and might make the searching process easier.

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

When you call the RE agent to place an offer, they will ask you if you have been pre-approved. If you haven't been, they will recommend someone for you to get that done. In the meantime, the RE agent will write up his proposal of your offer to show the seller.

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

my broker asked me if I was pre-approved but she didn't request a letter until after my bid was accepted. at the time, i was only pre-qual (which really doesn't mean much). It's much better to be pre-approved as it shows you are serious, but its not required as far as I know.

When I put my bid in, the RE agent filled out a paper with my offer, how much down payment i'd give and i signed it. About 20 minutes later, she came back to me with a counter offer. I countered THAT offer but the seller wouldn't go down further than he already had so we accepted. From the time I left the house to the time I had an accepted offer was about 45 minutes.

Re: Putting in a bid for a house????

We just did this...we put in a bid and he countered. We met in the middle. Next is the inspection tomorrow and then hopefully we go to contract sometime soon after that. We are also giving 10K at signing of the contract. Our REA advised that it would be a good sell to get the price we wanted.