Today’s sellers are mostly concerned about getting their home SOLD. That means they have to make it all the way from Contract to Closing. The better the quality of Buyer they are working with, increases their odds of getting the home closed. It doesn’t matter what the sales price was, if the transaction does not close. Therefore, the stronger you are as a Buyer, the more willing they are to accept your offer over another, less qualified, Buyer. Simply put, it reduces their risk of failure and increases your chance for success!

Whether you are a cash Buyer or a Buyer who is seeking financing, your highest possible score is 55.

A credit score is just one component of the Buyer’s quality as a borrower and in the home buying process. It is often the case that even with an acceptable credit score, Buyers are unsuccessful in purchasing due to other factors that are just as important to the home buying process. Therefore, while the credit score is critical, in the home buying process, it is just one part of your overall rating with BestBUYER SCORE . Because of that, you are able to present a much more accurate picture of your quality as a Buyer to a seller with a BestBUYER SCORE score.

With a high BestBUYER SCORE score, you are automatically positioned more strongly to negotiate the sale on your terms. Keep in mind that a good Sales Contract provides for both parties to benefit as well as to concede on certain points. You will be more prone to gain agreement on the most favorable price as well as other terms of the agreement because you represent a high chance of success for closing the deal and not a low risk for failure to close. You represent ‘security’ to a Seller. If you present yourself as a less prepared or less qualified Buyer, you are not taken as seriously as the better qualified Buyer will be. BestBUYER SCORE is a clear and practical way to show a Seller how you are their best risk and chance for success.

A letter of Conditional Loan Commitment says to everyone in the home buying / selling transaction that you have done all that is required of a lender in order for them to commit to granting you a mortgage, The only ‘Condition’ is the property that you are seeking to buy. This is the strongest position that a Buyer can be in and as a Buyer, you should push for the lender to complete their process and issue the letter to you. In some areas of the country this is also known as “Loan Commitment’. All parties are looking for each Buyer to reach this point in the process and ‘the sooner the better’ for all involved!

Real estate transactions have lots of legal implications and pitfalls built into them. While REALTORS are not attorneys and are not allowed to practice law, they do know all of the ‘standard’ and ‘common’ disclosures and forms that should be part of the transaction to protect all parties. REALTORS have access to ALL of the housing inventory and can help you best and easiest to fine that ‘RIGHT HOME’ REALTORS know the real pricing of the market and can keep both Buyer and Seller from making a mistake that can keep a transaction from going together or from falling apart once it becomes a contract. Paying too much for a property, making a fatal error in the transaction that terminates a closing and facilitating a faster and smoother closing are just some of the reasons to work with a REALTOR.

Sellers consider a cash Buyer as less risk and hassle. There is no time consuming loan approval process or the associated risk with that process. There is a preference to accept an offer from a cash Buyer over a similar or even better offer from a Buyer who is obtaining a mortgage. That is why it is so important, if you are obtaining a mortgage for the purchase, to get that process started, and completed if possible, before you even begin to actually look at properties.

The fact is that if you need a mortgage to buy a house, getting the loan is more important than finding a house. It’s possible to go looking and find your perfect ‘dream’ home. But if you cannot secure a loan to purchase it, then it was all for nothing. Many times sellers will not even show their home unless they know that a Buyer is already well into the loan acquisition process.

Also, It’s highly possible that by the time you have obtained your loan, the home you wanted to purchase has already been bought by another Buyer who was ahead in the loan acquisition process or was purchasing with cash due to the seller retaining the right to sell using a ‘First right of Refusal’ in the purchase agreement. So, it just makes sense to get the financing in place and then start the home search. Step one always comes before step two!