| The Buying
Process Buying a new home
can be one of the largest financial and emotional decisions you make
during your lifetime. Following these steps will ensure that you
find the home that fits your needs and budget.
These five steps will ensure that you
find the right home at the right price.
The first step in the buying process
is the loan pre-approval process. A good mortgage broker is
needed to determine the proper type of loan and the maximum amount
you can borrow. Your mortgage broker will have you fill out a
mortgage application and then based upon that data you will receive
a pre-approval letter for a certain purchase price and loan amount.
With this letter in hand, you will know the maximum amount you can
spend on a home. This step can take anywhere from several days
to a month depending upon your financial situation.
Terra Mortgage Banking
is a mortgage broker that can help you obtain a loan and
pre-approval letter or give me a call at 415-360-9191 for a list of
other excellent mortgage brokers.
Now that you know with certainty the
maximum amount you can spend, it is time to sit down with me and
discuss the preferred profile of your new home. Besides price,
at a minimum the profile will include the geographic area, number of
bedrooms, and number of bathrooms. Often the criteria will
include other information such as homes with a yard, or sunny
locations, or no homes on slopes, or certain school districts -
virtually any factors you feel are important.
It is important to remember that your
"preferred" profile represents the ideal home and, as often is the
case in Marin County, may not be available in your price range.
It is equally important that you express the relative importance (in
other words rank) of your selection criteria.
It is now time to begin the search
for your new home. Based on your preferred profile, I will set
up a tour of properties that meet your selection criteria. Our
initial tour is important since it allows us to test out your
preferred profile with actual homes. Often, after seeing
several properties, your profile may change.
The search process can include other
methods of viewing properties besides the tour. A service
called
CleanOffer allows clients of real estate agents to access the
full Multiple Listing Service used by all Marin agents through the
Internet. This is an excellent method for keeping abreast of
new listings without having to drive by each property. Let me
know if you would like access to CleanOffer - you need to be invited
by an agent in order to access the service.
Besides CleanOffer, you can also view
homes through Broker Opens during the week or through Sunday Open
Houses.
No matter which method or methods you
use, it will be my job to ensure that you are aware of any and all
properties that come on the market. Marin can be a highly
competitive market and you will need to act fast in order to get the
really good values.
At last we've found your perfect
home! It is now time to make an offer. When submitting
an offer to buy a property, the focus is often on price. While
price is usually the primary issue to both the buyer and seller, it
is important to consider all the terms of a purchase agreement.
In multiple offer situations, there are many cases where the seller
is willing to accept a lower priced offer with better terms!
Besides price, the key terms include
the closing date, the financing contingency, the inspection
contingency, whether the property is sold "As-Is" and whether the
transaction is contingent upon the sale of another property.
In Marin, the typical terms of the
average contract are a 30 day close, a 17 day financing contingency
(pre-approved buyer) and a 14 day inspection contingency. In a
multiple offer situation, each of these terms is usually shortened
in order to make the offer more desirable to the seller.
Once your offer is accepted, you
begin the escrow process. In most cases, you will have an
inspection contingency in which you have a certain amount of time to
inspect the property and back-out should you find an undisclosed
defect in the property. Typically, you will order a pest
inspection and home inspection that you, the buyer, will pay for.
You will also typically have a
financing contingency in which you will have a certain amount of
time in which to obtain your pre-approved loan. This will
require an appraisal of the property at your cost.
You will also need to obtain
insurance for your new home and may want to employ the services of
other specialists such as surveyors or contractors.
Finally, once all the contingencies
are removed and the financing is in place you close - becoming the
proud owner of a new home!
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