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This is a brief walkthrough of what to expect in the home buying process. If you know what to expect it can take most of the stress out of the process.

 

Your first step is to speak with a lender and get a basic pre qualification letter. We will want this to give with an offer to show you have taken the steps to start the loan process.

Next we have to find a home. I will schedule the appointments and we will view the properties together. After we find a home, I will do a market analysis and give you what I feel is the value of the home based on sales of recent comparable homes. 

 

I will then try and get all the information the sellers agent is willing to give. Some agents will give too much information. That is not my concern, since I don't represent the seller.. After I have all the information I need we will negotiate a contract for as little as possible.

Within the contract there are a few items we will need to discuss and decide on your needs. Lets start with the Due Diligence Fee. 

 

The DD fee is a NONREFUNDABLE fee for the time to do your due diligence, which is a time period, also defined in the contract. You are basically paying for the time you need in order to investigate the property, to decide if you are going to go through with the purchase. You can decline the purchase of the property at any time during this period. If you decline to proceed you lose the DD Fee. If you proceed with the purchase, then the DD Fee is applied to the purchase as a credit to you. After the DD Date Earnest monies come into play. 

Earnest monies are consideration you give to show your good faith intent to purchase the home. After the Due Diligence date ends the Earnest monies become at risk. If you back out after the DD end date then you would forfeit the DD monies AND the Earnest monies. If you proceed with the purchase then both are applied as a credit for you. Both are negotiable and I will discuss further with you about what you should do to put as little money at risk as possible.

Closing costs are monies you will pay for a variety of services: attorneys fees, lenders fees, inspection fees, home warranties etc. You can ask the seller to pay closing costs to help offset the out of pocket expenses associated with all the closing costs and loan downpayment as well as others

The last thing is setting a closing date within the contract. This date needs to be enough time for your lender to process the loan and  Usually a minimum of 30 days but the lender should be consulted on this. You can discuss this with the lender you choose.

After we negotiate the contract we move into the DD period. During this time I will check for future road improvements, confirm schools, get you average utility bills for the year etc. We will also schedule Inspections you want to have done.

I would suggest you have a home inspection done. A home inspector will review the home for you and inform you of any defects they find in the home. Inspectors charge between $350 and $600 depending on the size of the home. And radon tests can be done by inspector for around $120. I would also suggest you do a Termite inspection. They are around $70 and can save hundreds if the home has termites. If the home has a well and septic system we can have the water tested and septic system reviewed also. Water tests can be done for around $120 for the home inspector to take them. We can talk later about a few other tests that can be done but aren't as common. All of these can be paid for with closing costs mentioned earlier.

After we get all inspections done we will then negotiate any repairs we want done. It is negotiable but we will try and get everything we can fixed.

We will also have to choose an attorney to close the sale. Attorneys charge around $750 to close a sale with a loan. If you aren't getting a loan it is a little less.

After that we are on to closing! Piece of cake right? I know it sounds like a lot to do but it will take its course naturally within the process.