Understanding how to find and finance the perfect home for you

Buying a house requires a lot of time and effort, but these 10 steps can help make the home buying process manageable and help you make the best decisions possible.

Step 1: Start Your Research Early

As soon as you can, start reading Web sites, newspapers, and magazines that have real estate listings. Make a note of particular homes you are interested in and see how long they stay on the market. Also, note any changes in asking prices. This will give you a sense of the housing trends in specific areas.

Step 2: Determine How Much House You Can Afford

Lenders generally recommend that people look for homes that cost no more than three to five times their annual household income if the home buyers plan to make a 20% down payment and have a moderate amount of other debt.
But you should make this determination based on your own financial situation. Use this Affordability Calculator to see how much house you can afford.

Step 3: Get Pre-qualified and Pre-approved for Your Mortgage

Before you start looking for a home, you will need to know how much you can actually spend. The best way to do that is to get pre-qualified for a mortgage. To get pre-qualified, you just need to provide some financial information to your mortgage lender, such as your income and the amount of savings and investments you have. He/She will review this information and tell you how much they can lend you. This will tell you the price range of the homes you should be looking at. Later, you will get pre-approved for your mortgage, which involves providing your financial documents (W-2 statements, paycheck stubs, bank account statements, etc.) so the lender can verify your financial status and credit.
I have a list of lenders that have been trustworthy, timely, personable and honest that I'm happy to share. They can be found on my website: Robyn's Realty on the Affiliates page.
To get pre-qualified quickly, contact one of our preferred lenders, Jon Schneider here: Jon at Citywide's homepage
Don't forget to ask about Closing Costs. As a buyer borrowing money, the lender has charges for helping prepare your loan and documentation. Sometimes, I can negotiate to get the seller to pay for some of these costs. They can be up to 3% of the price of the home, although are often less. 

Step 4: Find the Right Real Estate Agent

Real estate agents are important partners when you’re buying or selling a home. Real estate agents can provide you with helpful information on homes and neighborhoods that isn’t easily accessible to the public. Their knowledge of the home buying process, negotiating skills, and familiarity with the area you want to live in can be extremely valuable. And best of all, it doesn’t cost you anything to use an agent – I am compensated from the commission paid by the seller of the house.

Step 5: Shop for Your Home and Make an Offer

Start touring homes in your price range. It might be helpful to take notes on all the homes you visit. You will see a lot of houses! It can be hard to remember everything about them, so you might want to take pictures or video to help you remember each home. I will bring a copy of the listing for you to jot down those notes.
Make sure to check out the little details of each house. For example:
  • Which way the front and back yards face
  • Garage space and storage space
  • Room sizes compared to your furniture (you can bring a tape measure if you wish)
  • NOTE: The inspector will test all the electrical outlets, water pressure, roof & ceiling, appliances, etc.
It’s also important to evaluate the neighborhood and make a note of things such as:
  • Are the other homes on the block well maintained?
  • How much traffic does the street get?
  • Is there enough street parking for your family and visitors?
  • Is it conveniently located near places of interest to you: schools, shopping centers, restaurants, parks, and public transportation?
Take as much time as you need to find the right home. Then I'll work to negotiate a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes in the same neighborhood. Once you and the seller have reached agreement on a price, the house will go into escrow, which is the period of time it takes to complete all of the remaining steps in the home buying process.

Step 6: Get a Home Inspection

Typically, purchase offers are contingent on a home inspection of the property to check for signs of structural damage or things that may need fixing. I will help you arrange to have this inspection conducted within a few days of your offer being accepted by the seller. This contingency protects you by giving you a chance to renegotiate your offer or withdraw it without penalty if the inspection reveals significant material damage.
Both you and the seller will receive a report on the home inspector’s findings. You can then decide if you want to ask the seller to fix anything on the property before closing the sale. Before the sale closes, you will have a walk-through of the house, which gives you the chance to confirm that any agreed-upon repairs have been made. I work diligently to negotiate through this process to get as many repairs done as possible; or to get a price reduction if you want to take care of the repairs with someone you know.

Step 7: Work with a Mortgage Lender to Select Your Loan

Most Home Loan companies has a wide range of competitively priced loan programs and a reputation for exceptional customer service. You will have many questions when you are purchasing a home, and having an experienced, responsive mortgage lender assist you can make the process much easier. It is critical that you pick someone with an outstanding reputation for customer service, honesty, dependability, and character. I have a list of proven loan officers that past clients have loved working with and felt well taken care of.
Every home buyer has their own priorities when choosing a mortgage. Some are interested in keeping their monthly payments as low as possible. Others are interested in making sure that their monthly payments never increase. And still others pick a loan based on the knowledge they will be moving again in just a few years.
Review the resources below to learn more about the loans offered by Citywide Home Loans and get help on deciding which one is the best for you. Or choose a bank or mortgage broker of your choice.

Step 8: Have the Home Appraised

Your loan officer will arrange for an appraiser to provide an independent estimate of the value of the house you are buying. The appraiser is a member of a third party company and is not directly associated with myself or the loan officer. The appraisal will let all the parties involved know that you are paying a fair price for the home.

Step 9: Coordinate the Paperwork

As you can imagine, there is a lot of paperwork involved in buying a house. I will arrange for a title company (Metro National Title or one of your choice) to handle all of the paperwork and make sure that the seller is the rightful owner of the house you are buying. They will also coordinate with your lender to get the amount of any money you need at the Settlement table. They will prepare all the documents needed for you to become the owner of your new home. 

Step 10: Close the Sale

At Settlement, you will sign all of the paperwork required to complete the purchase, including your loan documents. It typically takes a couple of days for your loan to be funded after the paperwork is returned to the lender. Once the check is delivered to the seller, you are ready to move into your new home. Usually within 24 hours of signing the documents.

CONGRATULATIONS, at the end of this important process, 
you will be a new home owner!