How to Get Your Offer Accepted on a House

5 min read

A tiny home model on a table with a house key

Deciding to become a homeowner can be exciting, especially when you experience the moment of finding your dream home and making an offer. Yet as markets continue to be competitive, sellers aren't simply jumping at any buyer willing to pay their asking price. In this environment, how do you get your offer accepted on a house?

In a seller's market, homeowners who are selling have a large pool of buyers looking to make offers. This allows sellers to hand-pick more advantageous offers with fewer seller credits at closing.

However, you can do a few things to strengthen your offer before presenting it to a seller. Here are four tactics you can employ that will make your offer so tasty the sellers will have to accept.

4 Ways to Get Your Home Offer Accepted

1- Offer Above-Asking Price
If you want to know how to get your offer accepted on a house, offering more money than what the seller initially asks for is a good start. While you aren't required to offer over asking, your offer must be strong enough to beat other potential bids in competitive markets.

The amount of money you should offer over asking is a bit fluid. You may only need to offer a few thousand dollars more in some markets. Therefore, it's crucial to balance your offer with home prices in the area and requests for seller credits at closing. Your real estate agent should be able to advise you on how to get your offer accepted on a house with a fair price, or you can contact our Cake Concierge Center to find out about recent home sale prices in your area.

2- Put Down More Earnest Money
Another way to grease the wheels on your offer is to offer the seller a larger earnest money deposit. Offering a sizable earnest money deposit demonstrates to the seller that you are a serious buyer.

If the deal falls through, you aren't always entitled to the refunding of your earnest money, especially if you decide to pull out of a signed contract deal.

For this reason, earnest money can be a powerful motivator to the seller and is credited at closing toward your down payment.

3- Include an Escalation Clause
As markets heat up, sellers will be getting multiple offers for their homes, but you will be ahead of the game by knowing how to get your offer accepted on a house using an escalation clause. An escalation clause works because you agree in your offer that if another offer presented to the seller outbids your existing offer, you will automatically outbid them up to a predetermined price cap.

An escalation clause can also help reduce the back and forth between you and the seller as they get flooded with offers. However, a seller may still be inclined to issue a counteroffer in some cases.

If you decide that an escalation clause might work for you, you may consider consulting a real estate attorney before committing to your offer to make sure it's sound and structured correctly.

4- Waive Contingencies
When it comes to figuring out how to get your offer accepted on your new house, making your offer as clean as possible can make it more appealing to a seller. In addition, requiring no contingencies or seller credits at closing shows that you are a confident and motivated buyer eager to purchase your home.

If you have to include contingencies, try to reduce the number of items where possible. Contingencies may include selling another home, obtaining specific financing terms, or even getting a home inspection.

In some situations, how to get your offer accepted on a house is all about supplementing the need for writing contingencies into the contract. For example, some lenders can fully underwrite your mortgage application ahead of time. This would make you feel confident you will be approved for credit, meaning you don't need to make the offer contingent upon financing.

Similarly, if a seller has a pre-listing inspection report, you might want to consider using that as a reliable resource rather than complete your own independent inspection.

Cake is Here for You

What can Cake do for you so that you get the home you deserve? In short, our Cake Cash Pre Approval letter is as good as a cash offer. We also have some of the fastest times to close, which is highly motivating for a seller. Our expert list of loan officers can handle the mortgage part so you can focus on how to get your offer accepted on your dream home.