7 Keys to Winning a Multiple Offer Situation in Our Market

To win a multiple offer situation as a buyer in our Greater Milwaukee market, I have seven tips for you to follow.

In our current market, if you see a home you like that’s a hot property in a favorable price range, there could be multiple offers for it. 

If you find yourself in this situation and have to compete with other buyers, here are seven things you can do to make your offer the best of the bunch: 

1. Make sure the seller knows you’re qualified. The best way to do this is to get a pre-approval letter (not a pre-qualification letter) from your lender and submit it along with your offer for at least the mortgage amount or higher. 

2. Submit a large earnest money deposit. A normal deposit in today’s market is 1% of the purchase price, so make yours 2%, 3%, or even 5% of the purchase price. If your offer doesn’t get accepted, you’ll get that money back anyway. 

3. Find out from your agent what’s important to the seller. Do they prefer an earlier or later closing date? Do they want certain items excluded from the sale? Your agent can find these things out by talking to the listing agent prior to you making your offer. 

4. Give the seller time to move. I understand you want to move in as fast as possible, but normal closings take about 45 days, so if you’re expecting them to be out in 20 to 30 days, that’s unrealistic unless it’s a vacant property. 

5. Consider shortening or waiving some of the contingencies you have. For example, instead of waiting two or three weeks to do a home inspection, do it within seven days. If you think the property is good enough as it is, consider waiving the inspection altogether. The fewer contingencies you bring, the better chance your offer has of being accepted. 

6. Let the seller know you love their house. I suggest writing a brief letter to the seller outlining why you love their house and why they should pick you to be its buyer. And remember—be sincere. 

Make your first offer your highest and best one.

7. Make a good offer. Make your highest and best offer now because you may not get countered. Excuse the listing price and have your agent do a comparative market analysis—sometimes properties are priced below market value, and you may have to offer thousands of dollars more to get that property. 

If you have any questions about getting your next home in today’s competitive market, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to assist you.

Greater Milwaukee Area Market Update

Today I wanted to give you a market update on how the market has been doing the last seven months.

Now that we’re into August, I thought I would take some time to give you a market update recapping the last seven months of this year. I’ve laid out the current statistics compared to this time last year below.

If you’re thinking of selling, now is the time to do so.

• Number of homes available for sale is down by 12%
• Number of days on market decreased from 61 to 39 days
• Number of listings also decreased by 2%
• Number of homes sold is down 9%, mostly due to low inventory
• Median sales price has increased 5% to 6% in the metro area
• Milwaukee County sales price is $160,000
• Waukesha County sales price is $308,000
• Washington County sales price is $255,000
• Ozaukee County sales price is $305,000
• Racine County sales price is $171,000

Inventory is low and prices are going up—so if you've been thinking of selling, now is the time to do so. Based on these statistics, we’re in a firm seller’s market in the metro area. For buyers, the interest rates are still low and you can find a great deal on a mortgage if you’re looking to buy.

If you have any questions on the market or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, please give us a call. We’d be happy to help!

How to Get Rid of Harmful Radon Gas

Radon gas can be very harmful. Here’s how to make sure the levels in your home are acceptable.

Over 50% of the houses we sell have radon gas inspections done. Eric Clark from Lifetime Radon Solutions is here with us to talk a little bit about radon gas, what it is, and how you can treat it if the levels of radon in your home get too high. 

Radon is an invisible, odorless, colorless gas. We know it’s there, but we don’t know it’s there. It’s a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from uranium in the soil and is concentrated in the home. The midwest is notorious for high levels of radon. Wisconsin is right up there.

Radon can’t be seen or smelled, but it can be measured and it can have consequences. Behind smoking, radon gas is the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. Every house has radon, it’s just a matter of how much. The EPA recommends action for any radon levels above 4 pCi/L.

A solution to a dangerous problem.

Lifestyle Radon Solutions offers radon mitigation systems and they can install them in a number of ways. They draw the radon gas out from the home by creating a negative pressure that gets the gas out before it even enters the home. They guarantee that your radon levels will be below 4 pCi/L with one of their systems.The price range for one of these systems is anywhere from $845 to $1305. 

So even if you have high radon levels in your home, it is fixable. If you have any questions for Eric about Lifestyle Radon Solutions and any of the services or products they offer, give him a call at (262)-955-7701. If you have any other real estate questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us anytime. We look forward to hearing from you.