Selling My Home in Delray – How do I know if a buyer is qualified?
A fan of our Facebook page recently submitted this question:
When a buyer makes an offer on my home, what should we be looking at to make sure they’re qualified and will be able to close on their offer?
When we are your listing agents, we are always keeping this issue in mind, at every step in the process!
- Before the showing.
When an agent contacts us to arrange a showing, we start by screening the buyer on on a few things. We ask: What is the buyer looking for? Is the agent familiar with the community, and the home? Is the buyer pre-qualified? We ask these types of questions to begin to understand the buyer, their qualifications, and their motivation.
- At the showing.
One of the reasons that we accompany all of our showings is because it’s another important opportunity to get a sense of the potential buyer. When onsite, we can get a feel for the buyer first-hand. We look for cues and clues to indicate their mindset. Are they asking the right questions? (Like, how old is the roof, the air conditioning? What does the community have to offer?)
One of the fun things to watch as we are touring through the house is whether they’re envisioning where the furniture’s going to go. That’s an example of a great buying sign. So, we are getting an idea if they are qualified to purchase this home, and if they are actually envisioning themselves being in this home.
- When we get an offer.
Of course, this is a thrilling part, but where do we go from there? It’s really important that if we take your property off-market, because he have an offer, that it’s actually going to close. If it’s a cash offer, we make sure that they have clear funds. How? We ask for statements that show that they have the funds. And probably most importantly, we look to see that that statement is in the name of the buyer on the contract.
(If it’s in an LLC, if it’s a company buying it, then guess what? Those funds need to be in the name of the LLC or the corporation. That’s crucial!)
If there will be a mortgage, we look at the pre-qualification letter. One pre-qualification letter is not the same as another… What did that mortgage broker or lender do to pre-qualify the client? Did they pull credit? Did they look at their assets, liabilities, and so forth? We analyze this carefully at this stage. We often pick up the phone and have a conversation with the mortgage broker to make sure that we have a sense that they can buy this home.
(It helps that we’ve been in business so long and we know so many people in the market! So when I see a mortgage broker or lender whose name I know, it’s an easy conversation to have.)
Our goal, besides just to get offers on your home, is to get an offer to the closing table and make it a positive experience for all the parties. Making sure that the buyer is qualified to buy your home is important at every step. We do NOT want surprises!
So whether it’s on the front-end or after you get an offer, we work together to make sure we get you to the closing table.
If selling may be in your future – or you’re just curious about what your home is worth today – you can request a no-obligation home value assessment here.
Questions? Call us – Amy and Noreen, All About Florida Homes, Keller Williams Realty – at (561) 571-2289. We’d love an opportunity to discuss your home selling goals.
