This market is an absolute nightmare for people buying a house. Here in East Tennessee, the fine folks from California, Illinois, and other places around the country are rolling in and paying over asking with cash. I mean you cant blame them for wanting to come live in Gods country, but its putting the working-class locals at a disadvantage. This blog may provide you with zero help, but I thought we might at least try to give you some knowledge from the sellers perspective. So youve found the house you love, but you know some other yuppie is going to come in and bid too, you saw them in their skinny jeans out in the yard, or you know somebody is going to call and offer on it without seeing it because thats been happening too. So heres what the seller looks at. Seller Net - This is clearly most important. This is how much the seller will be putting in their bank account or investing into DogeCoin. This is how much money theyre getting after all expenses. So when you offer 250,000, they still have to pay their realtors, closing costs, etc. So obviously the more they net, the more us greedy creatures are likely to accept. However, there are other factors. If you offer the same exact thing as someone else, but the other offers cash while you offer a USDA loan, theyre going to be taking the cash. So that leads us to financing. Financing - We dont have time to go over the ins and outs of every loan. Just know that Cash and Conventional loans are king. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, Veteran Affairs (VA) loans, and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans fall behind that. The three behind the conventional typically have more guidelines for underwriting which means more risk of something falling through, or the closing date getting extended. Contingencies - When you buy youll have your financing contingency, inspection contingency, your appraisal contingency, and your I need nachos contingency. Waive all those and you get the house! Dont do that, but this is common amongst cash buyers. In this crazy market, people who want to get a leg up may waive their inspection contingency and accept it as is. Some may waive the appraisal contingency and make up the difference. There are different strategies to take. Id advise you to not waive any of those if youre a buyer using financing. But youre an adult so you make your own decision. Other things lower on the list are earnest money deposits and closing date. Obviously, if you put down a fat earnest money deposit youll get someone's attention. The closing date can be a sneaky good way to get a leg up also. If youre willing to close the day they need then youre already on the good side. If someone offers $25,000 more than you and wants to close a week earlier than the seller is probably just going to hire some movers and live in a van if they have to, but you never know. So the most important things to think about when making your offer from the sellers vantage points are: Seller Net, Financing, and Contingencies. Put yourself in their shoes. Make your offer. Pray, chant, and then hope the Californians dont send in that fat cash offer.