Home Show Gift Basket Winner!

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At Eastern Sierra Realty, we love to get back to those who make our business possible. That’s why, at our recent home show, we registered everyone who came out to win a free gift basket. The gift basket was filled with gift-cards from local establishments, including Barbeque Bills, Spellbinder Books, Black Sheep, Sandra Paulis Housekeeping Services, High Country Lumber, McDonald’s, Chevron, Village Café, Subway, Reagan Sporting Goods, Brown Supply and Bishop Nursery. Before we get to a winner, we would like to thank all of the companies involved and everyone who attended our home show and made it a great event.

Now, without further ado, we would like to congratulate Pat Stanley on winning our gift-card basket!

Congratulations Pat!

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Everyone else can keep an eye out for our next drawing and remember, if you or someone you know has any real estate needs, feel free to contact us at (760) 873-4161 or email us at randi@mysierrahomes.com or dawong1@telis.org. Thanks!

How to Gain a Competitive Edge

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Buyers are entering a competitive market with multiple offers being common. To help you win in this market, we want to share some tips on how to land the home of your dreams. By taking these steps, your offer will stand out from the crowd.

Time is of the essence so be aggressive. When a home that you’re interested in hits the market, plan to see it as soon as possible.  Make seeing homes your priority, which may mean you have to take time off from work or go on your lunch hour.  Once you find a home you like, you’ll need to make up your mind quickly. If you hesitate, the property could be gone because others will be making offers.

Once you decide to write an offer, make it the best possible offer that’s at an appropriate price point for the seller. Make it a strong offer! Basically, you’re going to want to put as much down as you can and don’t ask for a lot from the seller, such as requesting the seller to pay for fees. Keep in mind the seller will look at their bottom line, and anything you ask for takes away from their bottom line.

To make your offer even stronger, consider how you will handle contingencies, which have to be removed before the offer moves forward. For example, there may be a contingency based on the inspection or a contingency on getting your loan. The shorter time you have for contingencies the stronger your offer.

We highly recommend being preapproved—not just prequalified—for a loan.  Being preapproved means you have submitted information to the lender, the bank has reviewed it and probably sent it off to the underwriter, which means you can make an offer with a preapproval letter. The seller will then take your offer more seriously.

Find a knowledgeable real estate agent by interviewing them. You want to find an agent who has your best interest at heart. By hiring an expert, you’ll avoid home-buyer mistakes. The agent will guide you through a series of questions so you get what you want from your biggest investment. Based on all the information you provide, a knowledgeable agent will help you land your dream home no matter how competitive the market is for homes.

Your agent will not only help you find the home of your dreams, but connect you to the right people to make the entire buying process as smooth as possible. In addition to a real estate agent to represent you, you’ll also need a home inspector, a lender and a real estate attorney. Thanks to an expert agent, you can rest assured that you’re working with the best in the business. Remember, you wouldn’t climb Mount Everest without a guide, so you don’t buy a house without a rock star real estate agent.

If you are interested in succeeding in this market, contact us today at (760) 873-4161 or randi@mysierrahomes.com or dawong1@tellis.org so we can build a strategy to get you the results you want.  We’d be happy to assist you.