In today’s real estate market, multiple bids are almost the norm. You need to be prepared to handle the situation. The first thing to do is to get established with a mortgage broker and become pre-qualified. You need to know that you can afford the house and that you can close on your mortgage in a timely fashion and demonstrate that to your potential seller.

It is also important that you have a real estate agent who knows what he or she is doing. Those people do this every day and they can navigate you through the process, while you are probably not well versed on the situation.

You and your real estate agent have to be really familiar with the home values in the neighborhood that you are making a bid in. Of course it is expected that your agent has studied the “comps” or listings of comparable houses, and more importantly, recent sales of comparable houses. What is the history in your area? Is it common to have to bid over the asking price? Are you going to have to expect to be in a bidding war?

If you think that you should bid low because you can always come up, that may not be a good plan, because your dream home may be gone before you realize what happened. You probably should make a strong offer from the beginning.

Something that could happen is that after you make your offer, the seller could make a counter offer. Be prepared for that situation.

The seller is going to want to be comfortable that you can “deliver” and close on the house that you are bidding on. Make sure that your agent presents your offer in the best possible light that will show competence. Clean up any financial complications as soon as you and before things get serious. If you are able to make a down payment, make it as large as possible.

The seller may throw in some contingencies that you weren’t expecting. Be prepared for that. If you really want the house, you may have to compromise and go along with a few things.

Try not to get too attached to one particular house or you may get your heart broken. Remember that there is always going to be another house.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.