Seven Steps For Home Buying
While home buying is expensive, and rather complicated, it’s actually fairly simple. There are really just five simple steps to buy real estate.
Find Out What You Qualify For
The first step to buying real estate is to have the funds available to purchase. Now, homes aren’t cheap, and very few people have the cash necessary to purchase a property outright. Before you ever start house hunging you need to get your finances in order. You need to ensure that your credit is good, and that your debt and income are sufficient to qualify for a mortgage loan. There are many types of home loans, and many different lenders. It’s usually a good idea to talk to multiple lenders to make sure you are getting the best loan product, and the best deal.
Start House Hunting Online
Once you know how much home you can afford, go to the internet and start looking at homes online. Figure out approximately what you want, and search for homes that match your criteria, and your approved mortgage amount. There are many great websites out there designed specifically to help you find exactly what you are looking at. If you don’t see your dream home on your first search, there are also services to give you email notifications any time a new home is listed that matches your criteria. It’s really nice to know about hot new listings the first day they hit the market. That way, you will have the opportunity to look at a new listing before anyone else does.
Find A Realtor
After you find a house that interests you enough to check it out, you will want to find a Realtor to show the property to you. Most people don’t realize that when buying a home, it doesn’t cost you anything to pay for representation from a buyers agent. The real estate agents commission is covered by the seller, and is agreed upon when they list their house. When you select you’re agent, you don’t want to call the Realtor who has the home listed. These agents have contracted with the seller, and are obligated to represent the seller. The best thing to do is to hire an agent who works primarily with buyers. You’ll want an agent who knows the local market, and who has experience. The easiest way to find an agent like this is to use the one on whose website you’re looking. Agents who have good websites for home search, are used to working with buyers.
Make an Offer
Once you find the house you like best, make an offer. A good real estate agent will have a recommendation on what you should offer, and what realistically you can get the house for. Of course, you’ll want to get the best deal possible, and so will want to offer low, but you need to be careful that you don’t offend the seller. Even if an offer may be the best interest of a seller to take, if they have been offended, and if emotions are involved, they may not act rationally.
Perform Inspections
Once the property is under contract, you’ll want to perform some underlying test to make sure that the property really is what you are expecting. The first test you’ll want done is a general home inspection. The home inspector will perform tasks to make sure plumbing, electrical, furnaces, and appliances are working properly. If something looks suspicious, they may also make recommendations to have additional tests done for things such as engineering, mold, meth, or radon. If inspectors find problems, you can ask the seller to make repairs, or cancel your purchase contract.
Close
To make closing possible, you are mostly reliant on having a good lender and title company. They are the ones that assemble all the necessary documents, to make sure that you will have clear title and rights to your property. When they have everything ready, all you need to is show up at the title company and sign hundreds of papers. Just because you have signed the papers, doesn’t mean that the property is yours and you will be given keys. Actuall closing doesn’t usually happen until a day or two after signing after the funding has taken place and the property has been recorded at the County courthouse.
Move In
The hardest part of moving is packing. You'll have to do this though. The easiest way to move is to purchase boxes that are all the same size, made specifically for moving. Make sure you label each box with where it is to go in your new house. You can decide if you want to hire a professional mover, or enlist your friends and rent a U-Haul to move yourself. If you don't like throwing your back out, I recommend the professional mover option.
You Did It! You own a home now! Turn on the utilities, get moved in, have fun, and make new friends.
