If you are in the market to buy a home, you may already know what it means when a home is under contract and in “backup” status. Let’s start by clarifying what backup status means. When a home is listed for sale the listing is “active” if no offers have been accepted by the seller. When a buyer submits an offer and the seller accepts it, the status moves to “backup” status. While not all sellers remain open to showing their homes after an offer has been accepted, many are and these homes may we worth your while seeing and placing backup offers on if warranted.
Good agents know that deals fall apart for many reasons and having solid backup offers in place just makes good sense. Some examples of why transactions fall apart include: buyers fail to get loan approval, issues arise with inspections, homes may not appraise, etc. This happens more often than buyers realize which is why placing solid backup offers can prove to be a solid strategy for buyers. As an Orange County Realtor I always encourage my sellers to accept solid backup offers as well as my buyers to make them – this approach has served both sellers and buyers well.
So if you are looking to buy a home it is very important to focus on new listings but do not forget that homes that are under contract may welcome your backup offer. If you are lucky, your backup offer may just move to first position and land you the home of your dreams. So in conclusion, backup offers are in fact a good idea and should be a part of every buyers home search.
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