I love buyers. Whether a buyer is selling their existing home to move up to a larger one or to downsize, or it's their first purchase, a buyer is looking forward to their next step in life. It's an exciting time and I really enjoy being a part of it. I guess I'm a teacher (or lawyer!) at heart, so I love guiding buyers through the process to ensure they make the right decision.
I know you are anxious to look at homes. You will profit greatly from knowing the whole process and what to expect every step of the way. I like to find out your "bonus items" and "must haves" that will make a house the perfect home. We go over the current market, current inventory, and how to win in that market. I walk you through strategy for winning in multiple offer scenarios without overpaying, concessions you can get from the seller, financing options, your time frame, etc. Also, earnest money required at your price range and conditions we put on your offer to protect your earnest money. Basically what to expect and all methods of mitigating risk. I also understand that it's not always possible to meet in person and we can accomplish what we need to over the phone or email as well. I get it, you're busy!
Please use a good lender. I am more than happy to recommend lenders who are fantastic at what they do. The lender may not need a whole lot of info from you initially, but they do need to know how they can most effectively help from the financial documentation that you provide. Pick your ideal loan program and a price that your ideal monthly payment correlates to. This has to be done before presenting your offer. It is important to have this done before searching for homes so there are no delays once you find the perfect home that can result in you losing out on the opportunity to make an offer on your dream home.
Now the fun part! Let's look at some amazing homes at your convenience. Thanks to our productive initial consult interview we can tour homes that meet your needs and are not a waste of your time. I'll also make sure to inform you about "coming soon" listings and off-market properties.
I walk you through the contracts section by section so you know exactly what you are offering and how that applies to you. We need to tailor your offer to our knowledge of the seller's negotiating position. I will have a detailed conversation with the listing agent to review the seller's motivations for selling, request property disclosures and reports if available, and get a general sense of what we can include or remove from your offer to make it more appealing to the seller. We research liens against the property, how much the seller owes on their mortgage, whether the property is in foreclosure, time on market, and patterns in price reductions to determine their position. And of course, tailor everything to your needs. Do you want/need the seller to pay some of all of your closing costs? Would you like a seller paid home warranty? All of these works into the net amount that we present to the seller.
Multiple offer situations are common these days. You do not necessarily have to be the highest offer to win in one of these competitive situations. (Read: Ways to Win in Multiple Offers)
Offer presentation has to be done properly. On my listings, I usually get horribly presented offers. A dot loop share with a prequalification letter from a random unknown lender is not a real offer. Presenting you in a personalized way and as the fully qualified buyer that will easily close on the home is key. That being said, you are financially prudent and won't overpay for an asset.
Most escrows last 30 to 45 days. Good lenders shouldn't need longer than that to get your loan cleared to close. We are officially under contract. Now the real work begins!
One of the conditions we put on your offer is your due diligence (property inspection) condition. Home purchases are as-is so you need to do your homework. I highly recommend getting any inspections necessary so that you can determine if the home is in the condition that you expect and so that we can find the things that should be repaired by the seller before closing. We will discuss this in detail and determine what inspections to perform and what each inspection will cost. Your offer is subject to satisfactory inspection and repairs negotiation.
There are some very cool financing programs out there to fit anyone's situation. Once under contract, your lender gets started on the property specific loan. The lender will need some financial info from you so they can process everything. They will order an appraisal (which you as the buyer will pay for - make sure you know the cost in advance), your loan will finish underwriting, and then you get that beautiful "clear to close".
Complications pop up all of the time in this process. Again, please use a good lender. I am more than happy to recommend lenders who are fantastic at what they do.
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Signing, funding and recording, and then getting keys is the best part of the process. I love giving my clients a handshake or a high five at the exciting appointment where I give you keys to your new beautiful home!
The process is full of possible problems that a good lender and a good Realtor should have seen and successfully solved many times before. We all love when things go smoothly!
Bottom line folks - most of the valuable work comes after your dream home goes under contract. The fact that a buyer agent/broker can show you any available home is awesome, but that is not the primary reason why you hire someone to help during this emotionally charged period of your life.
The value of a buyer agent in the modern real estate landscape is absolute. If you are in the market to buy a home and you are only calling on yard signs and on Zillow listings you are doing it wrong. Most of those yard signs are under contract. Same goes for Zillow - many of the homes that you see there sold months ago. Many others will not show up there at all.
Buyer agency is free of charge to buyers. The seller pays the buyers agent commission. So you can hire a massively experienced Realtor who handles everything for you without paying a dime. So cool!
As you interview agents and brokers make sure they have a process and can clearly articulate what they do to bring you value that goes beyond opening doors and writing a contract. Every transaction is unique but as I mentioned before, I use the same process every single time because it works.