Let’s face it: if you’re a home buyer, today’s real estate market feels like you’re on a roller coaster. The twists and turns of rising mortgage rates, higher-than-normal home prices, and competitive sales can make your stomach ache–or scare you away from buying your dream home altogether.

But there are strategies to get the seller to choose your offer… even when they have multiple on the table.

Check out these five secrets to make your offer stand out from our tenured CEO Brad Cahoone:

• Get Pre-Approved (Not Pre-Qualified). Getting pre-approved tells the seller you’re a serious buyer who’s gone through a full underwriting review of your income/asset documents and credit. Being pre-qualified means a lender listens to your responses on income and assets and pulls your credit report. Seller’s agents know this and put offers with pre-approvals ahead of pre-qualification letters.
• Cash is King. People like cash—always have, always will. In real estate transactions, it makes the purchasing process easier for both buyer and seller. Roughly 12% of buyers use cash and often rise above the competition.
• Lower Your Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio. The more money you put down on your new home, the lower your LTV will be. A low LTV offer gives the seller confidence that your loan will be approved.
• Work with Experienced Agents. Experienced seller’s agents may not accept your offer because they don’t want to teach an inexperienced buyer’s agent how to do a transaction. That’s why you should hire a full-time, experienced agent who’s been in the industry for five or more years. The seller’s agent is a human, and self-preservation of their paycheck is a factor in deciding which offer they recommend to their sellers.
• Use a Local Lender with a Stellar Reputation. Find a local mortgage banker or broker with strong credibility like Global Home Finance. Sellers and their agents want to know the lender can close on time and the process will be streamlined and successful. Also, having a local lender means that the file is underwritten locally, and the lender has a panel of local appraisers who know the market and its idiosyncrasies.