Making an Offer to Buy a Home

Let Us Help You Make a Winning Offer

Making an Offer to Buy a Virginia / West Virginia Home

You may not realize there are basic steps involved in arriving at an offer price and contract terms when submitting a purchase agreement to a home seller. Your Old Dominion Realty real estate agent will help you decide on an opening offer price that makes sense for you.

Purchase agreements can change from state to state. A basic offer usually includes your offer price (the price you’re willing to pay), terms of finance, and contingencies (for example, agreements as to what will happen if problems are discovered during the home inspection).

Our agents use a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) to help determine your offer price. Using a CMA, you can create a list of comparable properties in your target neighborhood to help determine the approximate value of your target home by analyzing:

Properties sold in the same neighborhood with similar features.
Listed homes in the same neighborhood with adjusted average sales price.
Homes in the same neighborhood with similar features.

We also take local market trends and conditions into consideration when calculating your offer amount. As an example, if available home inventory is plentiful, your buying power is greater than in communities with fewer homes for sale. When home inventory supplies are lower, selling prices can be the same, or even higher, than listing prices. You should be prepared to adjust your final offer price accordingly.

One additional item we take into consideration is external factors about the home:

Has the home been on the market for an extended period of time?
Is it a part of an estate liquidation?
How many and what kinds of repairs need to be completed?

Our team of real estate professionals is dedicated to making your first-time home buying experience pleasant and stress-free. If you need help making an offer on your Virginia or West Virginia dream home, feel free to contact us today.