Buying a home is one of the major purchase decisions of your life; therefore, it’s important to be an informed buyer. The following information will help you better understand the buying process and assist you in your efforts. For detailed information for buyers, please download the buyers report below. You can also sign up to receive email updates of all the new listings that meet your search criteria. Please let me know if you are interested in previewing any of the homes you see on my website.
The Process. (Based on a 30 day conventional loan)
Lets face it, during the buying process you WILL face many different emotions. They will likely be all over the spectrum from happy to sad. Our goal is to be with you during the entire process and to help sort out all the information that will go your way. We don’t say this to scare you but to inform you that the process can be long, emotional but fun and entertaining at the same time.
The first step is sometimes not the most obvious. Any purchase requires money. We need to know do you have cash to purchase or will you require a loan. If you don’t have thousands of dollars tucked away in a shoe box you will not only need to know that you can get a loan but what type. Different loan types require homes to be in different states of repair and is very important to know up front. It’s a waste of everyone’s time if you are looking at homes that won’t qualify under your approved loan program.
Once you know how you will pay for a home its time to get looking. We as Realtor’s have access directly to the multiple listing service or MLS. We can set you up with a search based on your parameters that will automatically notify you when a match is listed or has a price reduction. Often times this is faster than other websites since they have a time delay receiving those updates.
Once you have found your dream home and gotten your offer accepted our work has just begun. As soon as its possible you NEED to contact your lender to get the loan application completed and any additional documents to him/her. Any delay’s will cause the process to take more time. Here is an idea where you should be at certain points…
Within the first five days, your home inspection will be scheduled. You will review, sign and return the seller’s property disclosures if not done with the offer and you should be researching and/or scheduling a moving company. By day ten your lender will have ordered the appraisal and received your full credit report. Your home inspection may have been completed by now or will be within days. This is also the time you should contact insurance companies regarding homeowners insurance. At this point you still have ample time before the move but you should start collecting moving boxes and packing away anything you feel you won’t need over the next two months.
Two weeks into the buying process your home inspection will be complete and any repairs should be negotiated. You should also finalize any policies with your insurance company. The title company that will do the settlement will have completed the title search by this time as well. Eighteen to twenty one days in the appraisal would be complete and should have been reviewed by your lender.
Within the last week your lender will submit the loan package. At this time you should consider setting up cable, internet, power, gas, water for the effective date of possession. Your final walk through will also be completed within the last couple days to make sure the home is in acceptable condition. Once the settlement statements are complete you will receive a copy (3 days if hand delivered or 7 days by any other means) in advance of the scheduled settlement date.
The only thing left to do at this point is to show up and sign a few documents (or a ton) and get the keys to your new home!