The Home Buying Process

Buying a home - such a large undertaking, where to start?  Sue has outlined below what usually happens from searching for a home to closing.

When a buyer comes to me we usually do the following:

• Sit down and talk about their plans.
• What price range they are looking and where.
• What are important items that they are needing or wanting.
• We must talk about agency.
• We also need to get qualified to see what they can afford (I can help with
  names of lenders).

Once we are pre-approved and I have a signed Buyers Agency Agreement, then we start looking at homes.  I go through all the homes and pick about five to go see and we talk about them.  Or I can run off all the homes from MLS and they can drive by and let me know which homes they want to go in and see.  I put them in my computer so if any new listings show up, we can go look at them right away.

Once we find a home they like we do the following to look it over:

• Open some windows 
• Turn on the faucets and check the water pressure 
• Go room to room looking the woodwork, ceiling, carpet, etc.
• We look the outside over also. I usually have the drive around the neighborhood to see how the other homes are kept.

Now comes time to make an offer.  We check the computer for homes that have sold in the neighborhood to determine a price for our offer. We obtain the sellers disclosure and utilities and any other information we can on the home . I usually give the buyers a copy of the contract ahead of time to read over before we sit down and write the contract so if they have any questions we can go over it. While we are together, I fill out the contract with all their wants, telling the buyer that the seller has 3 options when they receive the contract. They can:

• Accept the offer
• Reject the offer 
• Counter. 

The buyer needs to put down earnest money to show good faith for the contract and to show the seller that he is serious. I try to have the listing agent allow me to present the seller with the offer. If the offer is not accepted, I must go back to the buyer to let them know if the seller rejected the contract or countered.  

Once both buyer and seller have agreed upon a contract, the next step is to order our inspections. The inspection can last up to four hours. The buyer learns a lot from following the inspector around from room to room. If there is anything seriously wrong with the home then at that point we do a "resolution agreement" asking the seller to repair, replace or compensate for those items.  

Once we have that resolved we have the appraisal ordered. The buyer needs to check around for insurance. I have a list of utilities that I give a buyer. Before closing we set up a time to go back to the home to check it over. 

Finally, I am present at the closing to make sure there are no problems.

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