Wesley Costello is the Executive VP of Sales Operations at AnnieMac Home Mortgage.
Homebuyers Need Strategy and Preparation to Succeed
In today’s real estate market, strategy and preparation matter more than ever. With obstinate mortgage rates, growing affordability issues, and tight inventory, homebuyers face multi-faceted challenges. Properties in hot markets sell in a matter of days, with bidding wars driving prices above asking and multiple offers becoming standard practice. According to the latest data, 30.3% of homes sold above listing price in April 2025—underscoring just how aggressive today’s environment can be.
Sellers Need to Strategize Too
Bidding wars and fast closings may sound like a seller’s dream, but they bring challenges. Most sellers are also homebuyers. If they put their home on the market, they are likely to have multiple offers within a week and need to quickly find a place to move. Tight inventory means homes are hard to find and even harder to win.
If home sellers attempt to buy first, they must disclose a home sale contingency in the contract to protect their deposit in the event their home doesn’t settle in time. How difficult is it to win with a home sale contingency? It would be more polite to double-dip the shrimp at the seller’s cocktail party than to make them an offer with a home sale contingency.
Cash Buyers Capitalize on Sellers' Prioritization of Certainty
Sellers prioritize offers that demonstrate a strong and reliable buyer, with a focus on financing, minimal contingencies, certainty, and a competitive price.
The uncertainty of a purchase contract making it to closing makes the terms of the contract of utmost importance. Offer price matters. The presence or number of contingencies matters. As realtors attest, sellers often chose offers that are not the highest and instead pick an offer with a better overall package and a higher likelihood of closing successfully.
A seller’s preference for offers with minimal contingencies has significant financial implications for homebuyers: all-cash buyers pay about 10% less on average than buyers who use financing. The certainty that comes with a cash offer not only expedites the process, it increases affordability through negotiating power. Cash isn’t just more convenient. It’s more competitive.
Demographics are reinforcing this trend. Baby boomers now make up 42% of homebuyers. Of those, 50% of older boomers and 40% of younger boomers are buying homes entirely with cash. Cash buyer boomers come to the table with proceeds from previous home sales and enough savings to avoid financing altogether. Younger buyers and first-time homeowners, by comparison, are more likely to rely on mortgage and home sale contingencies and often lose out because of it.
This shift threatens to deepen housing access issues, especially for first-time homeowners. Buyers with strong incomes and solid credit are falling behind because they can’t match the speed or certainty of cash. Without new tools and strategies, this dynamic will continue to push homeownership out of reach for many, particularly first-time homeowners.
Buyers and Sellers Can Find Certainty in Home Contracts
That’s why platforms that remove mortgage and home sale contingencies and instead purchase the home from the seller if the end buyer cannot, will transform the American home buying and selling process. These platforms bring certainty and reduce risk for both buyers and sellers.
AnnieMac Cash2Keys (C2Ks) gives qualified buyers the ability to make competitive cash offers with no mortgage or home sale contingencies. Buyers work with AnnieMac to obtain a C2Ks pre-approval and then their offer is backed by C2Ks Cash Offer, or in the case of Buy Now, Sell Later, C2Ks is the buyer. This increases the odds of acceptance by providing the certainty that sellers are looking for. So far, C2Ks has been used to close over 600 million in real estate transactions, including one case where a Veteran won the purchase offer despite being up against 77 other offers, some of which were higher.
Industry leaders innovate to elevate the experience for all stakeholders. Few industries are as primed for innovation as housing, where contractual uncertainty reigns. The innovation is coming from vested lending institutions that are bridging the gap between traditional financing and cash competitiveness. Platforms like C2Ks deliver more certainty for home sellers and enable real estate professionals to give their clients the gift of being a cash buyer, so their clients don’t just bid, they win. It’s time for the industry to meet this moment with solutions that match the strategies that buyers and sellers need.