Tips To Help You Understand The Homebuying Process

These homebuyer tips are presented as a series of steps in the homebuying process. They are best taken in the order in which they occur. Yes, you could stray from the following order or even skip a step or two, but going through each step as they occur will help you better understand the homebuying process. It will also enable you to make a successful offer. This is extremely helpful in a competitive market like a spring market, for example.

Find Out About Any Financial Restrictions

To begin the homebuying process, find out what your financial restrictions are before you start shopping for new home. Get answers to questions such as, “Should I rent or buy?” “How much can I borrow?” (Use these calculators: Monthly Payment Calculator Affordability Calculator Rent/Buy Calculator). Next, get a formal loan pre-approval. This will help you determine the price range of homes in which you should shop. This will help you to make a successful offer on a home when you find one. Again, this is extremely helpful in a competitive market.

 Get Clear On Your Home Preferences

Are you clear on what you are looking for in a home? If you aren’t, search available listings within your price range in different cities, and search a lot of them. This will show you the upsides and downsides of a home. For example, you may find a large home with great views or a small home with great schools. Drive around neighborhoods that look promising or that you are interested in. Attend open houses in those neighborhoods. This will help your preferences in a home stand out clearly.

Hire An Experienced Real Estate Agent

Now that your preferences are clear, it’s time to hire award-winning Broker, Andrew Pikoff.

• Results Driven
• Trained Negotiator
• Excellent Communicator
• Innovative Marketer
• Thorough and Aggressive
• Over 20 Years’ Worth of Experience
• Extensive Market Knowledge
• 5-Star Client Rating
• Community Volunteer

Andrew is familiar with the areas you are interested in. He knows how to evaluate properties well and negotiate purchase contracts. Learn more about finding the best real estate agent here.

 Walk Through Assessment Of Seller Disclosures With Your Real Estate Agent

You’ve found a home! Now it’s time for your real estate agent to completed his initial pricing analysis of that home in comparison to similar homes in the area and walk you through an in-depth assessment of the seller disclosures.

Make An Offer On The Home You Wish To Purchase

Your real estate agent will estimate how much you should offer on a home. He bases this amount on current market conditions:

• the average amount of time homes spend on the market
• how many disclosure packages for the home have been picked up or read online by interested buyers
• how many legitimate offers have been made on the home
• and so forth

A counter-offer that alters the price, terms of the offer or both is usually then made by the seller if they decide to work with the offer you made on the home. You can accept the seller’s first counter-offer or respond with another counter-offer. So the process goes until you and the seller agree on a deal you can live with or you and the seller part ways.

Make Initial Deposit To The Escrow Company

As the buyer, you then make an initial deposit to the escrow company. The escrow company acts as a storage location to safely keep deeds and funds connected you’re your home purchase transaction. The amount of the deposit varies from state to state, but is usually 3% of the purchase price. This initial deposit can be a personal check, but later deposits to the escrow account are usually cashier’s checks or wire transfers.

 Get An Inspection

If the condition of the property calls for contingencies on the contract, you as the buyer must have the home inspected provide the proper reports. There are different kinds of home inspections. The condition of a home may necessitate a specific kind of home inspection, but general structural inspections are the most common. Specific kinds of home inspections include: roof, soil, septic, boundary, underground tanks, and structural pest, etc. If the seller has not provided a report for a structural pest inspection, consider requesting this inspection be done. Once inspections are completed and the condition of the property has been determined by the inspectors, you may decide to proceed with the purchase of the home, exercise the contingency, renegotiate based on what was determined by inspectors or release the contingency and purchase the home.

Close The Deal

Prior to close, loan and escrow papers need to be signed in order to allow the lender enough time to look over all documents and approve the loan. Ideally, papers should be signed about seven days prior to the scheduled close of escrow date. The transfer deed is recorded by the title company. The title company provides payment to the seller and brokers and pays any bills that may need to be paid.

Andrew Pikoff knows the ins-and-outs of real estate. He will walk you through the homebuying process efficiently and effectively. He is familiar with the neighborhoods you are interested in. His knowledge and expertise gained from 20+ years’ worth of real estate experience are demonstrated in the homebuying process to every client he is honored to work with. Andrew’s quality customer service is backed by the support of escrow coordinators, assistants, inspectors and attorneys.  They guarantee his level of unsurpassed service. Call (281) 670-1910. Hire Andrew Pikoff for your homebuying process today!