Steps to buying a house

Meet with Me

Even before you finalize your decision to buy a new home you might want the input of a real estate professional. In most cases, buying a home will save you money, but there are times when renting makes more sense. When you come to meet with me for the first time, it is a good idea to bring with you anyone what is going to have a direct say in your decisions regarding purchasing a home. Most often this is a spouse, but it may be a parent, partner, or a trusted friend. Anyone that you want fully informed about your home buying process is welcome to join us, regardless of if they have a financial stake in the transaction.

Qualify for financing

I strongly urge you to qualify with a lender before you proceed with your search. Being preQualified means that you know with certainty what you can afford, and it strengthens your position when you are ready to put an offer on a property. Most importantly, you are able to act quickly when you find your dream home. The process of getting approval is relatively painless, but it can be a little scary for some people. I can help to demystify the process, and put you in touch with professionals I trust.

Detailed Interview

Everyone involved in your home purchase needs to have a clear idea of what it is that you want. Often the process of explaining your needs to someone else will clarify them to you. At this point, I can start to give you an idea of what is available that matches your criteria. Usually we will want to go look at a few properties right away. Often this process will help us to further refine our expectations.

View Properties

At this point, it is often best to set up a regular appointment to view properties. In most cases once a week is a good interval, but depending on your needs it could be more or less frequent. Prior to each meeting, I will send you available listings based on your criteria. Each time we meet our criteria might be changed based on your reaction to the properties we see.

Making an Offer

When we find a property that is right for you, we will make an offer. I will fill out a contract that you will sign, and I will deliver it to the seller or, more often, the seller's agent. At this point three things can happen, the seller will accept your offer, the seller might reject your offer, or the seller will make a counter offer. If the seller sends back a counter offer, you can accept, reject, or counter. When both parties agree to the terms of an offer, the property is under contract, the the terms of which are binding on both parties.

Contract to Close

Most contracts define an option period. As the buyer, you will usually make two payments with your offer: the option payment, and the earnest money payment. The earnest money is held until the close of the sale, and is applied to the cost of purchase. Since you are committing to buy the house, and the seller is basically agreeing to take the house off the market for you, the earnest money is intended to demonstrate that you are really interested in the property. For a small fraction of the earnest money, you can specify an option period. During this time you can pull out of the deal for any reason, or even for no reason at all. During this time you should have the property inspected. You might want to amend the contract during the option period based on results of the inspection, repairs might need to be made to the property. At this point, seller can accept, reject or counter the new terms. Also, prior to closing, you will need to finalize your financing and have the title to the property verified. I will be in close touch with you at each step in this process to be sure everything is taken care of and that your interests are represented. I will not pass you off to others, and I will be available to answer questions and address your concerns.

Closing

On the day of closing we will walk through the property to be sure that all repairs have been finalized, that the seller is fully moved out, and that nothing unexpected has happened to the property. Then we will proceed to the closing, which is held at a title company. You will be asked to sign a series of documents. There will be a "Settlement Statement" that will explain all the expenses of the transaction for both the buyer and seller. You will receive a deed to the property signed by the seller. There will be documents for you to sign related to your mortgage. Most likely you will set up an escrow account that will hold payments for your property taxes and insurance. You will receive the keys to you new home once the funds have been transferred, shortly after you have finished signing the documents. The title company will record all the legal documents related to your purchase.