UberRealty.com

Unless you’re offering cash, though, your goal should be to offer as high a price as possible within the range of values that the home will realistically be appraised for….So, if you’re offering an amount significantly lower than the purchase price, you and your agent should be prepared for the eventuality that the listing agent might ask you what comps your offer price is based on, ask you to remove your appraisal contingency or even — especially in the case of bank-owned homes — ask you to document that you have cash on hand to make up the difference between the listing price and the offer price, in the event the property doesn’t appraise.

…This is why cash offers tend to trump mortgage-financed offers, even when the cash offer is lower; the seller has some level of assurance that none of the common mortgage-related glitches (e.g., low appraisals, condition issues or loan underwriting problems) will get in the way of the transaction closing. …Make sure your approval letter gives the listing agent a fairly detailed briefing of your qualifications, including your job tenure, that your credit has been verified, and what amount of cash you are investing into the transaction.

…(This is where you might even discover that some of the other offers are all-cash offers, which can be very difficult to compete with unless you beat them substantially on price.) …You may want to tell the seller a little about yourself and/or your family and respectfully let the seller know what you like about the house and neighborhood, concluding with a respectful request to consider your offer in the spirit it was made.

…Many sellers on today’s market — even those with the luxury of multiple offers — are still selling their homes for far below what they once thought they would be able to get for it.