West Chester Liberty Weekly – Real Estate Madness!

Who else had the Knights of Fairleigh Dickerson University knocking off the number one-seeded Boilermakers? You’re lying if you told me you did! What an insane opening weekend to March Madness!

Speaking of madness, is anyone else trying to buy a home in the West Chester Liberty Area while listening to the national media tell you the housing market is softening? Well, it’s slowly getting better, and by better, more inventory continues to climb; however, supply and demand are still dramatically tilted. Our market still has many more buyers than inventory, especially in the sweet spot of four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand.

I do have some good news. As I mentioned, inventory is getting better for buyers and looks to continue that way. In January, the West Chester Liberty Area had 73 listings, February had 93 listings, and already in March, we have had 79 listings. Slowly but surely getting better.

However, we are still seeing many cases of multiple offers! If you are a buyer in this market, please take these simple steps to get creative to help position yourself to win the multiple offer contest!

Always have an inspection performed but make it known it’s for buyer educational purposes only and that the buyer will not request any repairs while still allowing the right to walk in case any severe defects are found.

Be accommodating! Have your agent call the listing agent to see if the seller has a preferred closing date and offer to give them some time to move out after the closing date, also knowns as the occupancy date.

Are you well qualified with a good amount of cash to put down? Show it off. Put a decent amount down, preferably 20%. And offer to pay a percentage of an appraisal gap if needed. This means that if the house doesn’t appraise at the agreed price, you’d be willing to pay a certain amount to cover that gap.

Talk to your lender about a possible appraisal waiver. Certain areas perform so well that sometimes the lender will not need an appraisal for the loan.

These are great ways to impress your seller when competing against other offers!