4 Steps to Buying a Home - Step 4: Closing

Hiring the right real estate agent will make all the difference in a smooth purchase! Find all for sale homes in the Twin Cities South Metro to start your home buying experience.

Waiting for your home to close can be a busy time! The best thing to do first is to start packing. You have accumulated a lot of stuff in your current home and it takes time to pack these things up properly. A great place to get boxes for moving include:

• Grocery stores
• Craigslist
• Friends or family that have moved recently
• Purchase them from U-Haul or another company

Packing will help you organize what you have and help you decide if there are any items you may need once you move in to your new home. It's not the same space as you have currently, so your needs may change.

Final Walk Thru

A final walk thru is usually scheduled the day before or the day of closing. This will be a short appointment in which you make sure that the home is in the same condition as you saw it at the time you wrote the offer. If there are any issues, your real estate agent will address them with the listing agent and their clients.

Homeowners Insurance

Before you close on your home, you will need to secure homeowner's insurance. This is something that can be pre-paid for the first year out of your pocket or it can be added to a settlement statement. It will protect the home itself, as well as your things inside.

Utilities

One of the last things you need to take care of is setting up your utilities for your new home.  The most common utilities people need or want are:

• Heat
• Gas
• Electric
• Garbage service
• Cable/Internet

A great resource for utilities is to ask the current homeowners for their service providers. Or you can call the city to see who they recommend.

Closing

You're PACKED! You have air conditioning, cable and new amenities waiting for you! Now all you need to do is put everything in writing...it's time to go to the closing table.  Make sure you do your finger exercises so you don't get a hand cramp signing your name a million times! (Ok...that may be a slight exaggeration)

The final step to buying a home is to finalize all the legal documentation so that the ownership rights are transferred correctly and that you have signed the bank papers for the loan. You will get a copy of the documents for your files, collect the keys, and garage door openers if they have them.

4 Steps to Buying a Home: Step 1 - Secure Financing
4 Steps to Buying a Home: Step 2 - Finding the right home
4 Steps to Buying a Home: Step 3 - Writing an Offer


Contact me when you are ready to close on your next home!

You are officially a HOMEOWNER!! Now it's time to plan the housewarming party!
 

4 Steps to Buying a Home - Step 3: Writing an Offer

Hiring the right agent to help you buy your home will make all the difference when writing your offer.

Once you have found the home of your dreams and your financing is pre-approved, it's time to put in an offer. This is a big and exciting decision! Your agent will pull comparable homes in the area to make sure the home is priced accurately and this will help you determine what to offer on the home.

Earnest Money
Earnest money is a small down payment made at the time of the offer to show that you are serious about following the transaction through to closing. You should have money set aside for the earnest money as well as a home inspection before you make an offer. Earnest money is typically $1,000 or 1% of the purchase price and only deposited once an offer is accepted and signed by all parties.

Writing an offer could contain a number of things:

• The purchase price
• Earnest money
• Financing information
• A closing date
• Inspection contingency (optional)
• Seller paid closing costs (optional) 

The real estate agents will negotiate back and forth if there are any items that you or the sellers don't agree on. The negotiations can range anywhere from less than a day to several days depending on the specific details of the offer. Once the price and terms have been agreed upon, you should have a home inspection completed.

Inspection
A home inspection is very important because it will give a buyer an overall report card for the home. It will detail any major or minor repairs that could be made. These concerns can be negotiated after the inspection. 

Find all for sale homes in the Twin Cities South Metro to start your home buying experience.

4 Steps to Buying a Home: Step 1 - Secure Financing
4 Steps to Buying a Home: Step 2 - Finding the right home

Contact me when you are ready to purchase a home in 30-60 days.

Now that the offer has been made, the inspection has been completed, and any contingencies are removed,  you can move toward closing!

4 Steps to Buying a Home - Step 2: Finding the Right Home

Hiring the right real estate agent will make all the difference in a smooth purchase! Find all for sale homes in the Twin Cities South Metro to start your home buying experience.

Once you chose an agent, you can setup a consultation to discuss your criteria. It is important to have good idea of what you need versus what you want.

Make a list of needs you desire in a home such as:

• Location
• Number of Bedrooms
• Number of Bathrooms
• Style of home (ie: Two Story, Split Level, Rambler)
• Price 

A majority of today's buyers start their search online. Click here to start searching homes in your area! There are several websites out there with information on homes, but it is best to have a reliable source that only shows homes that are available today!

Time to Tour!
Work with your agent to chose your favorite 4-5 homes and the agent can request the showings. Some homes will be occupied and others may be vacant - a big factor for short notice showings. Most showings have to be approved with the homeowners so they can leave the home while you view it. This will give you an opportunity to openly talk about the pros and cons of the home.
 
Buyers "just know" within the first 30 seconds when they walk into a home. 

At each showing or open house, you will get a tour of each room, including kitchen, main living areas, bedrooms and bathrooms. You can ask as many questions as you'd like to make an informed decision.

 The buyers agent may relay feedback to the listing agent to help them gauge interest and things that can be improved upon.

After you have toured a few homes and find "The ONE," it's time to go all in and make an offer.

4 Steps to Buying a Home: Step 1 - Secure Financing

Let me know when I can help you find your dream home!

4 Steps to Buying a Home - Step 1: Secure Financing

There are 4 steps to buying a home, the first is to secure financing. Buying your first home should be exciting and fun, but it is important to be realistic with your income first.

The majority of people buying their first home will not be paying cash, so they will need to get financing through a mortgage lender. It's a good idea to talk to a trusted lender in order to see what you are comfortable spending each month.

The mortgage lender will collect:

• Pay stubs
• W-2's
• A mortgage application

The lender is there to guide you through the process and recommend the best loan programs available to you. The lender will also run your credit report to find out how much debt you already have and how this will affect your availability for monthly payments.

Once they crunch the numbers, they can issue you a pre-approval letter based on a suitable loan amount. Marketplace Home Mortgage can even provide you with an approval letter to avoid any glitches at closing.

Conventional Loans: a loan in which you put at least 5% down and finance the other 95%. Conventional financing has a maximum loan amount of $417,000, anything above that amount would be considered a Jumbo loan. This type of loan is usually a fixed rate loan that has a 30 year term and can be obtained from almost any bank or mortgage lender.

FHA Loans: a loan backed by the Federal Housing Authority and has to meet specific conditions. It is the least expensive way to get into a home because you are only required to put 3.5% down. The maximum loan amount for FHA is $318,550 for a single family home.

Some counties offer down payment assistance, which also helps with the out of pocket expenses. Be sure to check with your lender to see what counties offer these programs. Contact me today for an appointment to discuss financing and buying your next home!
 

Find all for sale homes in the Twin Cities South Metro to start your home buying experience. Once you have secured your financing, it's time to look at buying a home!