Meet with a mortgage lender
There’s a reason why this is #1 and that’s so you know what you can afford. This is crucial in determining what type of house you can start looking at! A lender will walk you through the process of finding what loan what works best for your situation, how much you can afford for your monthly mortgage, and what your interest rate will be. Once qualified, they’ll give you a letter than you can pass along to your agent!
Interview real estate agents
Every real estate agent has a different style when it comes to buying and selling. Make sure you do your homework and due diligence when finding someone to work with because you’ll be putting a lot of trust and time in with them. Some good topics to ask each agent are: marketing strategy, social presence, pricing tactics, & negotiation tricks. It’s also important to hire someone who knows the ins and outs of the paperwork and process.
Make a list of must haves
Looking at houses is fun! It’s great to go in with an open mind but it’s also great to have a list of the things you can’t live without then a list of things that would be added bonuses. This can include things like big backyard, master suite, no HOA, in this school district etc. This not only helps you but helps the agent narrow down their searches for you so you aren’t looking at homes that aren’t in your criteria.
Get set-up on an automatic email
Once you’ve narrowed down your wants, the agent will set-up an automatic email for you that will send houses within your criteria directly to you once they hit the market.
Tour houses
After you’ve found some houses you like, go tour them! The photos online are there to show you a sneak peak of the house but you won’t get the full effect unless you see it in person! All agents have access to active homes on the market so set up a time through them to see it.
Put in an offer
You found a house! Next thing you’ll want to do is work with your agent to write up an offer. This is a lengthy process with a ton of forms that need to be reviewed and signed. Working with an agent is crucial here because they’ll go over everything with you and make sure you understand all the ins and outs. Once it’s signed off by you it’s sent to the selling agent to review with their clients.
Do an inspection if doing one
If an inspection was put into the offer you’ll have a certain amount of days to conduct the inspection and respond back to the sellers. Then negotiation comes into play with things you want fixed if any, price reduction based off findings, or credits at closing. Or if everything comes out clean, then onto the next step!
Wait for appraisal
After the inspection, the last step before closing is the appraisal from the lender. This normally happens about a week or two before closing. Once completed we’ll know if it came back at, under or above value and negotiation comes into play again.
Close!
You’ve completed all the steps and are waiting to sign papers with the title company! Once they set that up and this is done, you’ll move forward to closing day where you’ll receive your keys and move into your new house!
Comments