The Step-By-Step Home-Buying Process
Step One: Be qualified by a lender
Being pre-approved by a lender before you make an offer on a home can save you thousands of dollars later. When you call us to set up our counseling session, we can recommend a top lender for you to contact before our consultation.
Step Two: Your consultation
We will quickly go over the basics of buying a home and provide you with the state’s Broker Disclosure Form. Next, we’ll ask you many important questions to help us get a clear picture of what your needs, wants, and desires are. This takes about 30 to 45 minutes.
Step Three: Choose your system
At your consultation, you’ll be asked to decide which system for finding a home you prefer.
The first is called Window Shopping. With this system, we provide you with all of the photos, addresses, and directions of those homes that match your criteria. This way you can drive by the homes before you tour them. Many people like this system because they get a feel for the home’s location and condition without having us present. When a home of interest is found, we are contacted for entrance to the house.
The second system is called Agent Previewing. This is a more traditional system for house hunting. We review all the homes that are available for you and will narrow the selection down to no more than seven “cream of the crop” properties, according to your criteria and our experience. On a predetermined day, we will go out together to find the home you’ll buy from the ones we’ve selected.
At the end of our consultation, you sign a Buyer Agency Agreement, and the search is on!
Step Four: Find your new home
Once we know all your particulars, we use technology to search the Multiple Listing Service, as well as other resources, for properties that meet your needs. When we go out to see the selected homes, bring your checkbook! Don’t be surprised when you fall in love with a home your very first day…most people do!
The majority of our buyers buy their new homes after previewing six homes or less.
Step Five: Draft your purchase agreement
Once we have found your dream home, we’ll go back to our office and complete a residential purchase agreement. A sample copy of this is given to you at your consultation.
Step Six: Write earnest-money check
At this time, you also submit an earnest-money check to go with your offer. This check is usually written for an amount equal to at least one percent of the price of the home. We take the check and the purchase agreement to the seller’s agent and negotiate the sale on your behalf. If the seller accepts your offer by signing the sales contract, you will have “mutual acceptance.” PLEASE NOTE: when your contract is accepted by the seller, your earnest-money check will be cashed.
Step Seven: You bought your new home
This point is often the hardest part of the home-buying process. Why? Because buyer’s remorse may set in. Although a majority of our buyers are very excited, some still feel a bit of buyer’s remorse. This happens because it’s time for a decision, commitment, and legal documents. So remember, the butterflies you feel are normal. Rest assured…we haven’t lost one yet!
Step Eight: Formalize your financing
Now that the paperwork is signed, complete a formal loan application if you haven’t already done so. Expect to pay for an appraisal and an extensive credit report, which costs about $375. You’ll sign a Verification of Employment form. If you have asked for an inspection to be done on your new home, you’ll need to pay the inspector at the time of inspection, usually in the range of $190 to $275.
Step Nine: Prepare to move
Your closing and possession dates will be determined when you write the offer to purchase and are agreed upon by both the buyer and seller. We work hard to make sure that everything runs smoothly and to make it as easy and pleasant for you as possible. We’ll coordinate your inspectors, appraisers, and lenders; identify problems; and find solutions.
Please feel free to call us at any time during the process. Although we work hard to make sure that you are informed, there may be information that needs further explanation. You now know more about the “real world” buying process than 90 percent of those who are looking to purchase a home!
