In A Hot Housing Market, Some Buyers Are Pulling Out All The Stops To Attract Sellers

Wisconsin’s housing market is seeing strong demand but a dwindling number of homes for sale. And some prospective buyers are going all-out to get ahead of others.

In a new national survey from Zillow, more than half of listing agents said they had seen buyers make all-cash offers or propose other incentives, such as a higher down payment.

In other cases, buyers are even waiving some of the contingencies that typically come with offers, like passing a home inspection or getting approved for a mortgage.

Shar Borg with First Weber in Glendale, Wisconsin, said such buyers may be putting themselves at risk.

In some cases, she said, people may be emptying retirement accounts to make cash offers.

And she described one buyer who offered to pay for the repairs found during inspection, “only to find out there was a $50,000 electrical repair that needed to be done.”

In these cases, Borg said, both sides could expose themselves to a lawsuit because they could race toward a contract and closing without fully knowing what they’re getting into.

Borg said she’s advising her clients to be patient, even at a time when many homes sell soon after they go up for sale.

“It’s not going to take you 30 years to find a house, but it will take you 30 years to probably pay it off,” she said. “So you really want to be very thoughtful about the house you’re getting into.”