If you’re looking for a home, you might have noticed by now that there seems to be some strategy involved with the home buying process. Some buyers seem to luck out with their dream house right away, while others put offer after offer on less-than-desirable homes and still get turned down. If you want to buy the home of your dreams, here’s how to make yourself competitive as a homebuyer:

Get Preapproved.

One of the biggest ways you can make yourself competitive as a homebuyer is to get preapproved for a mortgage loan. Essentially, a preapproval is when your lender tells you how much you can qualify for using your existing credit score, savings, and income. If you come forth with a preapproval, the sellers will know you have enough money to buy their house.

Limit Your Contingencies.

Contingencies are little requests that homebuyers make when purchasing a home. For example, a contingency could be that you won’t buy the house unless the washer and dryer are included. By limiting your contingencies, you are making it so the sellers have to jump through less hoops to get the house of their hands. If you make an offer with no contingencies, and another person makes a higher offer with four or five contingencies, you have a very good chance of being able to buy the house.

Make a Personal Appeal.

It’s always a nice touch to add a personal appeal when you’re putting an offer on the house. This could be as simple as a letter explaining to the owners why you fell in love with the house and what you can imagine your life like to be in that home. Home sellers will view you as a family with interests, and not just another number on the offer letter.

The biggest way to make yourself competitive as a homebuyer is to show the sellers how much you care about purchasing their house. If you follow these three steps, you should be just as competitive as the next homebuyer.