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This quick walk thru will give you an overview of the home buying process. For a more indepth look at the home buying process, order your free copy of the Buyers Guide by clicking here.
Getting Pre-Approved
The first step is to get pre-approved for a mortgage. There are a couple reasons for this. The first reason to make a pre-approval your first step is negotiating power. You, as a home buyer, will have much more leverage with a seller when you have a pre-approval in your hand. Especially if there is another buyer interested in the home who is not pre-approved.
The second reason you want to be pre-approved is if you find a Foreclosure Property – the seller won’t even look at an offer without a pre-approval.
Pre-approval’s are free – some lenders may want to charge you an application fee around $300. If a lender asks you for such a fee, just ask them if it can be paid after you’ve found a house. Such a fee goes towards the costs of appraising the home you select. If you haven’t made an offer yet – there is no point in paying for the appraisal. Make sense?
For a list of lenders we recommend, Click Here. Contact one of them, and start the pre-approval process.
Find A Home
After you’ve been approved for a loan, it’s time to go find yourself a home. All you need to do is tell your agent what you’re looking for – or if you’ve already signed up with one, log-in to your website and find a home! Feel free to search all the homes for sale here.
Once you’ve selected a few homes as possibilities, call your agent and set up a time to go look at the inside of the homes you have found.
Make An Offer
Now that you’ve looked at a handful of homes, and you’ve found one you want to buy – you and you're agent will write the offer together. They'll make sure your bests interests as a home buyer are represented and that all “I’s” are dotted and “T’s” are crossed.
They will show you how certain terms in a contract look to a bank or a seller, and how to present your offer in the most advantageous way.
Get An Inspection
Every offer we write is contingent upon a home inspection. This means, if you get into contract on a home – you’ll have an opportunity to inspect the home for problems. If the inspector comes back and finds some issues with the home you will have a few options.
At that point, you can walk away from the deal and find a new home. You can re-negotiate the price of the home or ask the seller to make certain repairs. Lastly, we can buy the property as is and continue with the purchase.
We will make sure you have options! We are always at our clients home inspections and we recommend you be there as well – it’s a great opportunity to get to know your home.
Closing
After you inspect the home, and the lender has the money ready to go – it’s time to close on your new home.
You will do a final walk-thru of the home right before the closing to make sure everything is the way it should be. Again, we're watching your back and keeping your bests interests at heart.
After the walk-thru, you’ll head to the closing where you’ll get to spend anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour signing paperwork – depending on what type of loan you get.
Once your done signing – we’ll shake your hand and hand you your new keys.
Congratulations, you’re now a home owner.