We know that buying a home is a big investment and possibly one of the largest financial decisions in your life. We also know that purchasing a home can be a stressful endeavor, especially if you are a first time home buyer. However, the home buying process doesn’t have to be a big stressor in your life. Let our team of trusted experts guide you through every step of the home buying process.
Let’s look below at some of the steps that our team can help you with.
Steps to buying a home: before an offer is accepted
- Determine how much you can afford. This step includes getting a pre-qualified/pre-approval or proof of funds letter from a lender. The process can be started online or in person at a local bank. Many people want to skip this step and go straight into step 2, but please don’t. For more information about pre-qualification and pre-approval letters, check out our blog post.
- Let’s find your home! At this time, you’ll let us know what type of home you’re looking for. Are you looking for a home in a subdivision or a home with acreage? Do you work from home and need high speed internet? Are you wanting 3 bedrooms or 4? HOA or no HOA? These are just some of the many questions you’ll want to think about.
- Negotiating an offer. Once you’ve found a home and want to put an offer in, we will assist you in writing an offer. We will give you data on comparable homes in the area, so you can make an informed decision about what you would like to offer. We will help you negotiate this offer with the seller, if needed, until an offer is accepted.
- Did you know that a strong offer can boil down to more than just price? Before we write up an offer, we will discuss how due diligence, earnest money, contingencies, and closing costs can impact your offer. For the sake of time, we won’t dive into what due diligence, earnest money, and contingencies are in this post, but these items will all be discussed before writing an offer.
After an offer is accepted.
Congratulations, you’re buying a home! What happens next?
- The Lender. Once you’re under contract, it’s important to get the executed contract to your lender. There’s a lot that happens behind the scenes so the sooner you get the lender everything they need, the better. We will be in constant communication with the lender to ensure there are no preventable delays.
- The Attorney. We will also provide the executed contract to the attorney you select. We will work with the attorney to set up a closing date and time. The attorney will complete a title search and prepare the necessary paperwork for closing.
- Schedule inspections. As soon as you go under contract, we can begin scheduling any and all inspections you want. You are welcome to research and select the inspectors or we can provide recommendations. Types of inspections you may want to consider include, but are not limited to,
- Home inspection
- Radon inspection
- Well & septic inspection
- Termite inspection
- Water Quality test
- Land survey
Yes, we still recommend inspections even on new construction properties.
- Repair Negotiations. During the home buying process, you or your lender may request repairs. We will help you negotiate repairs with the seller and ensure the agreed upon repairs are made.
Please note that the information above is not an all inclusive list of every step of the home buying process. However, you can rest assured that at Rochelle Moon Realty we will be with you every step of the way when you’re buying a home.
Ready to start the home buying process? Give us a call at 919-496-0444 and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook.