Decatur, Georgia home buying: what is a leaseback?
You’ve been scrolling Atlanta area homes for sale for months, and BOOM, there it is! The home you know is destined to be yours. Now what!?
It’s time to build an offer the sellers can’t refuse — and in this market, that’s exactly what you’re gonna need. To help, here are some tips to get your seller's attention and build an offer that's sure to stand out:
Get pre-approved. Unless you’re making an all-cash offer, you must, must, must include a pre-approval letter for a loan. If you haven’t yet, start that process ASAP.
Set your purchase price in line with your agent’s recommendation. In this market, low-ball offers will simply be ignored and set aside.
Keep contingencies to a minimum. And consider waiving as many as you can to seal the deal.
Bump up your earnest money and be willing to close quickly. If your seller is anxious to get moving, an offer with a short closing window will jump to the head of the pack.
Look for ways to subtly connect with the seller. Do your homework about the market and the seller and give your agent permission to share bits and pieces of your story too.
You’ve done all this, made a killer offer, and the sellers are on board. Congrats!! There’s just one hiccup. They need to hang around town for several more months. You don’t want to lose the house, and you’re willing to be flexible. The solution? A leaseback.
“A leaseback is an agreement between the new owner of a home and the former owner that rents the house back to the owner for 30-, 60-, or 90- days. While a leaseback clearly benefits the seller, willingness on a buyer’s end can be a powerful bargaining chip in a competitive housing market. ”
A leaseback is an agreement between the new owner of a home and the former owner that rents the house back to the owner for 30-, 60-, or 90- days. While a leaseback clearly benefits the seller, willingness on a buyer’s end can be a powerful bargaining chip in a competitive Atlanta housing market.
Have you ever been a party in a leaseback agreement? How'd it go? I’d love to hear about what you learned and whether you'd do it again in the comments below!
