Are you hunting for the perfect property? Are you a First Time Home Buyer and don’t know what to expect? Maybe you just want to be prepared before you take the steps towards owning a home.
Here are the 13 steps every homebuyer will go through to buy their perfect property.
- Choose your team. Before you do anything else, you’ll want to find a realtor that has your best interest at heart. You should meet with a few and see who you click with and who you trust to take care of you through this process.
- Get pre-approved. You will want to establish how much you can afford to purchase before you start falling in love with homes that are way outside your budget. This will also help you establish whether you will need seller assistance with closing.
- Find a home. Now the fun part, shopping. Since you are already pre-approved, when you find your perfect property, you will have the confidence to make an offer!
- Make an offer. This is the starting point for negotiations. Your buyer’s agent will help you here, making this process easier for you.
- Negotiate an offer. This is where you and the seller, with the help of your agents, try to reach an agreement on the pricing and terms of the sale.
- Work out contingencies and finalize the contract. This means, the offer has been accepted, but will not be finalized until a certain criteria is met, like appraisals, home inspections, and mortgage approval.
- Provide earnest money. This is the amount paid to confirm the contract and get the wheels moving on the sale.
- Execute the contract. Here you will obtain the home inspection, termite inspections and any other inspections that were agreed upon. All the repairs and final inspections will also be made.
- Fulfill any first-time home buy conditions. These include attending a first time home buyers class, having a HQS inspections completed, return any notarized paperwork to the lender, and complete all paperwork for any down-payment assistance programs.
- Buy Homeowners Insurance. You’ll want to shop around and get a few quotes before buying your insurance for the year.
- Work out final conditions on loans. You’re almost finished. If there is any other paperwork that needs to be filled out, make sure you fill it out ASAP. You don’t want to delay the sale of your home.
- Prep for closing. Secure your funds with a cashiers check. You should also request your documents a few days in advance to review them. Make sure you bring your homeowners insurance with your paid receipt.
- Meet closing agent and close. That’s right! It’s finally time to take the keys and say hello to your new home.
For more information and tips on buying, go to smartvaluebuyer.com.
