The Woodbridge house

Recently, we listed a home at 14925 Enterprise Lane, Woodbridge VA 22151 for $89,000.  Within 22 hours we received 23 offers, the highest being $142,000.

If you’re considering buying a similarly priced home in Prince William County or anywhere else, you should understand how an escalation clause works.  It starts with finding a home you like, and making an initial offer with the listing agent (let’s use $120,000 for this example).  The agent will likely tell you that he/she is receiving numerous offers for the home, and that you should create a contingency plan in case a better one comes along.  This will involve mentioning in your contract that you’re prepared to go up by increments of $2000 if the seller receives any higher offers (naturally, you’ll set a “do not exceed” cap, $180,000 in our scenario).  If you’re wondering about this process, you aren’t the only one: what guarantee do you have that there are other offers, or that there were enough that you had pay the full $180,000?  Unfortunately, this is very often how the game is played, and the escalation clause can be an effective way of giving yourself a fighting chance of winning the battle for a new home.  If this is the path you choose to take, then be sure to factor the added costs into your overall buying budget from the get-go.

The bottom line is, now is the time to buy a home, whether in Prince William or elsewhere; in fact, it may be the best time to buy a house in the next 30 years, especially if you’re planning on unloading your current one first.  For details on either of these two processes, feel free to give us a call.