Buying 101

• I’m about to buy my FIRST home and I have no idea where to start.

• I’m interested in investing in a rental property but this is all new to me, what do I do?

• I’m ready to upgrade or downsize my home to my current living conditions, what’s next?

If you have wondered or asked yourself any of these questions recently, we’ve got great news for you;

WE ARE HERE TO HELP!

Buying a home is a monumental life experience and you want a company on your side that is dedicated to making your buying experience a memorable one. Our experience in the local Real Estate market has enabled us to iron out all the details and develop a successful business process for a smooth transaction. Upon your first meeting, we will outline the expectations for your home purchase journey and develop a plan that best fits your home buying goals.

THE BASIC STEPS

If you are brand new to the process, it may be helpful for your to understand the basic steps for buying a home below. 

1.  Know How Much You Can Spend – working with a professional loan officer to review your entire financial picture will set you up for the best success in your buying process.  They will  review your monthly debt to income ratio, credit score and other various items to help determine the right loan amount for you.  Before going to look at your first property, you want to make sure you are looking within your comfortable, budgeted range. We work with the best loan officers in the area and can get you in touch with one of them to get you started on your home buying process!

2.  Schedule Showings For Homes–  We will set you up to receive listings that fit in the budgeted amount that you determined with your lender. Together, we will compose a list of homes to tour that meet your criteria and set aside time to view  those properties. 

3. Writing an offer/ Ratified Contract– Once you have found your new home, we will take care of preparing all the paperwork for you. We will discuss various inspection options that you have as a home buyer and work on getting you the best price within the current market. Once we have completed negotiations for you, the buyer, with the seller to come to an agreement on all terms for the purchase of your new home; you now have a ratified contract. An EMD ( Earnest Money Deposit) will be required at this time and can vary in amount based off the particular home or contract. We will review this in more detail with you when we 

4.  Full Loan Approval-  Your contract is ratified and it’s time to get to through the nitty gritty with your loan officer. They will request various documentation from you to fully approve your loan such as bank statements, W2’s, tax returns, income verification and more! Be diligent about getting this to your loan officer quickly so they can get you fully approved.

*Sometimes, a loan officer will have already collected some of these items during the pre-approval process and will likely just need updated documents.

 5. Inspections & Appraisals – While you are getting full loan approval, any inspections that you opted to have will be completed during this time, as well as the appraisal for the home.

6. Closing Day-  The most exciting day of the entire home buying journey! Closing is a joint effort that is setup between the buying/seller agents, closing attorney or settlement company (depending on the state), and lender.