As soon as you are able to zero-in on your best pick in your ongoing house-hunting, the last thing that you want to experience is to compete with other interested home buyers. The ensuing competition – especially when it involves high value and marketable home properties – is now becoming a near possibility. This is something that home buyers must start to consider as more and more real estate markets are now slowly moving towards positive territory.

So, what must home buyers do in order to get ahead of competition if and when things get tighter in real estate markets? You must arm yourself for the expected bidding war that you will have to face once you find your ideal home property. While others look at the transaction being purely dictated by the "roll of the dice," it is extremely important for serious home buyers to prepare for transactions that will involve multi-bid home property trenches.

Look at your loan logic

Don’t start with your house-hunting unless you have a pre-approved mortgage. This is extremely important since this event will allow you to determine your budget range based on the maximal financing that is available to you. Once you have your mortgage application pre-approved, you not only establish your ceiling in your home buying but also focus on the right property segment or category. You may seek the professional advice of a licensed and competent broker so that you will be able to establish and determine your best options. You will also be perceived by sellers as a serious buyer once you have a pre-approved mortgage.

Don’t keep up with the Joneses

It is not wise to engage in a rat race when buying your dream home. However, if you are serious in bidding for a particular party, it is highly recommended that you perform a comparative analysis of the real estate market. In short, you have to carefully assess the fair market value of the home property that you are interested in and compare the value with the fair market value of similar property within the same area. In this way, you can determine whether you are buying within your means or not.

Play it clean

Don’t make impossible demands or unusual requests. For instance, it may not be wise to include in your terms of agreement that the home purchase will be predicated by the sale of your current home property. Adding contingent clauses to address extenuating conditions can lead to the failure of negotiation with the seller.

Examine the merchandise

Allocate a budget for the appropriate pre-purchase home inspection. This is about one percent of the property’s asking price. This is one expense item that you cannot do without. If the property has serious flaws and underlying structural issues, then it is best that you have a detailed assessment report by a reputable home inspection specialist before proceeding with the negotiation.

Don’t be charmed by superficial enhancements

As a wise home buyer, you must look beyond the "icing" of the home property for sale. You must separate the substantial aspects from the fluff in order to make an accurate assessment of the true value of the home property. This means that you have to discount in your value assessment those gorgeous draperies and Persian rugs. It is also essential that you look beyond the drama and impact created by fresh coat of paint in both the interior and exterior of the home property. This can be just a "smokescreen" to conceal the real state of the property for sale.