Multiple offers may be every home buyer’s worst nightmare, yet these situations have become quite common in the nation’s hotter housing markets due to fallen home prices, super-low interest rates and large numbers of for-sale foreclosure properties. If you have to compete against other hopefuls to buy the home you want, how can you ensure the seller will accept your offer?

The first step is to understand the seller’s mentality, suggests Linnette Edwards, an associate-broker with Prudential Highland Partners in Piedmont, Calif. Banks that need to get short sales and foreclosures off their books choose financially strong home buyers who can pay cash and close the deal quickly. Individual sellers seek the highest price among multiple home offers, but can be swayed by emotional factors as well, she explains.

Cash is king on foreclosures

If you want to buy a short sale or bank-owned home, you’ll need to demonstrate your financial prowess. Make an all-cash offer if you can do so. If not, try to offer the highest price you’d be willing to pay, shorten the timeframes on your financing, appraisal and inspection contingencies, beef up your deposit and down payment, and include proof of those funds with your offer, Edwards suggests. A preapproval letter — or better yet, what Edwards calls a “direct underwritten” approval letter — from your lender is a must.

“It’s ideal to be the highest offer,” she says, “but oftentimes, you don’t have to be the highest offer to get your offer accepted.”

Remember, too, that bank-owned properties are always sold as-is, according to Rob Carter, a Realtor with ZipRealty in Washington, D.C. You can include a home inspection contingency, but don’t count on the bank to make any repairs.

“It’s not even a discussion,” Carter says.

‘Love letters’ win over home sellers

Individual home sellers also prioritize a high price, but they may have other concerns that will influence their decision as well, according to Carter. Two examples of such concerns are a rent-back agreement or flexible closing date.

“There is a natural tendency in a multiple-offer situation to try to solve the problem with price, but if you ask the right questions, you can learn what else is important to the seller,” Carter says.

Edwards advises buyers to “cozy up” to the listing agent. Go to the open house and chat up the agent “only saying pleasantries and delivering the message that [you] love the property and are going to be sweet and easy to work with,” she suggests. “Don’t ask any detailed question because [you] don’t want to come across as picky."

Edwards and Carter both recommend that buyers write what Edwards calls a “love letter” to the seller. The letter should explain who you are, why you want to buy the home and what you like most about it. The objective should be “to find a common connection” with the sellers that will prompt them at least to counter your offer, if not accept it outright, even if you haven’t offered the highest price among multiple offers, she explains.

“The cheesier” the letter is, Edwards adds, “the better."