6-Step Home Buying Process
You’ve found your perfect home. You ask yourself, “Now what?”. There are several steps to buying a home before you can call it your own. As your Realtor, I’m here to make the home buying process as simple and painless as possible. I will guide you through each and every step to help you achieve the goal of home ownership.
Here is my 6-step home buying process.
Step 1: Loan Pre-Approval
A loan pre-approval is the first and most important step in the home buying process. You can’t move forward in the process until you know how much house you can afford. With a loan pre-approval you are armed with the knowledge that a lender is willing to work with you on the steps of acquiring a mortgage. It keeps you ahead of the game when submitting an offer to purchase in today’s competitive real estate market. Having a loan pre-approval informs the seller and their real estate agent you have the financial backing and are ready to make a deal.
Step 2: Research
There’s a lot you can do to prepare when looking for a home to buy. In fact, the task could be overwhelming. Many prospective home buyers have a long list of wants and needs in a property. It's challenging to know where to start looking. Here, I will work with you on developing a plan on how to best move forward when searching for a home to buy.
Step 3: Making an Offer
Once you have found a home you wish to purchase, the next step is to present an offer to the seller. My job is to assist you in writing an offer, presenting your offer to the seller’s agent and if need be, negotiating the terms of the contract with your best interests in mind.
Step 4: Home Inspection
Once your offer has been accepted, it's important to conduct a thorough home inspection of your prospective home. This will allow you to become familiar with the home, evaluate its present condition, and decide what repairs will be needed. At this step, buyers will have a chance to negotiate with the sellers to cover the costs of certain repairs, to ask for concessions or to choose to walk away from the offer if the costs of repairs outweigh the value of purchasing the home.
To learn more about home inspections and how to hire the right home inspector, visit my blog post here.
Step 5: Financing
You may already be pre-approved, but now that you have an accepted offer and know your purchase price, it's time to work more in-depth with your lender on your final loan approval and selecting the best loan for you.
Step 6: Closing
At closing, the purchase of your new home is finalized. Financing is submitted by the lender and the title company does their part to ensure the title to the property is legally transferred from the seller to you, the buyer. The documents are recorded and the home is officially yours!
Thinking about buying real estate?
The home buying process is detailed, but it doesn't have to be stressful. My goal is to help you find the right home, for the right price, with the terms and the ideal time frame that fits your needs. If you would like to learn more about finding your next home, don't hesitate to contact me.
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