Buying a Home Explained Fast

How to Buy a House - Explained Fast

Want to buy a house and don't know where to start?

Or, maybe it's just been a little while since you purchased your last house and you want a refresher?

You're in the right place so, let’s get started!

During your preliminary meeting with your real estate agent, you'll be discussing your needs and wants in a home. These will include such items as the location you’re considering, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want, as well as your ideal timeline and budget.

Having a budget that is comfortable is a very important part of the home buying process. Determining your comfortable budget through the loan pre-approval process is the first place to start.

We consider it STEP 1 of the process. Getting you preapproved for a loan.

In this first step, you’ll speak with a lender who will determine the loan amount you’re approved for and provide you with the pre-approval letter. This letter is very important BECAUSE WE CANNOT MAKE AN OFFER ON A HOME WITHOUT ONE!

Once you have a pre-approval letter, we can go ahead and start touring homes.

When you find a home you like, we will work on preparing the offer documents that outline the terms and condition of the purchase. Once you’ve signed the offer, we will send it along with the pre-approval you have from your lender, over to the Listing Agent.

There may be some back and forth negotiation with the seller on our way to a final agreement.

Once you come to an agreement with the Seller and each party has signed the purchase agreement, you are what we call “under contract”. You and the Seller are in a legally binding contract for you to purchase the property.

Now that you are under contract, it’s time to do your due diligence. The due diligence phase is also known as your inspection period and it usually lasts between 5-10 days. Throughout this time you’ll research things you need to know about the property in order to feel comfortable moving forward.

During the inspection period, you will hire a home inspector of your choice to inspect the home and, if applicable, you may have additional inspections completed such as septic, water, radon or pest.

If there are any concerns with the home, they must be brought up during the inspection period. Now is your opportunity to request repairs and negotiate a workable solution between you and the Seller.

After the inspection period has been completed, the lender will order the appraisal. The appraisal is required by the lender to ensure the value of the home is at least what you are planning to pay for it.

Once the appraisal confirms the value of the home, the lender will be working with you to finalize and double-check all of your documents, employment, and credit. They’ll request updated statements of everything and confirming your financial situation is the same as when you went under contract.

As your closing day approaches, you will do a final walk-through of the property, order the utilities to begin when you take possession, and wire transfer to the title company the final funds needed to close.

On your closing day, you will meet with your Realtor and the title company to sign all of your documents…and there's going to be a lot of them! Be sure to bring a government-issued ID such as a driver's license to the signing. The signing itself will usually take 30-60 minutes. If the sellers are present at the signing, you’ll receive keys at this time!

Note: Based upon your contract, the Seller may be remaining in the home through an agreed upon occupancy date. Once the occupancy period finishes and the seller has moved out, you will meet with your agent and do one more walk through of the home and then receive your keys. 

Once you finish signing…CONGRATULATIONS…the home is yours!!

At this point…the home is yours…BUT…you’re not quite done. You must take your Property Transfer Affidavit to the assessors office in your county to claim that you are the new owner to the property. And, if there are any utilities to finish signing up for, now is the time!

 

This has been a general overview of what you can expect in the buying process. If you're ready to dive in and get started, hop on over to:

Step 1: Getting Pre-Approved  >

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