Getting Started: What are you looking for?

MAKE A LIST. Whether you are a first time home buyer or you are entering the marketplace as a repeat buyer, you need to ask why you want to buy. Are you planning to move because of a lifestyle change? Is buying an option or a requirement? Do you really know what you need and want in your home?

You'll save yourself lots of time and frustration if you make a list ahead of time. Consider such things as pricing, location, size, amenities (a pool or an extra large garage?) and design (one story or two, colonial or contemporary). Think about the features you must have, would like to have, definitely don't want and would prefer not to have. And finally, consider your needs in several years. Your goal is to find the right home for your family without falling in love with one that doesn't suit your needs. Use the Buyer Questionnaire to start compiling your wish list. After we find the right home for you to purchase, I'll negotiate the offer, help you with financing and inspection issues, and make your dream become a reality.

You've found it! Now what?

It's time to get started understanding each step in the home buying process. Select each to help guide you through the process.

Making an Offer

After we find the home you've been looking for, we'll discuss current market conditions, what comparable homes are selling for and determine what other factors are important to you in the deal. Then we put it in writing. Oral promises are not legally enforceable when it comes to the sale of real estate. The written proposal specifies the price and all of the terms and conditions of the purchase. For example, if the Seller said that they would help with $2000 toward your closing costs, you have to be sure that you include that in your written offer or you won't have grounds to enforce it later.

After the offer is drawn up and signed, it is typically presented to the Seller by the Seller's Realtor. If the Seller likes everything except the sales price or the closing date or the pool table, you may receive a written counter offer with changes that the Seller prefers. You are free to accept or reject it or to make your own counter offer. Each time either party makes a change in the terms, the other side is free to accept or reject it or counter again. When everyone accepts all of the negotiated terms, it will become a binding sales contract (also known as the purchase agreement).

An offer to purchase should include:

  • Address and/or legal description of the property
  • Sales price
  • Terms of financing (for example, all cash or subject to obtaining a mortgage for a given amount). Instructions for providing satisfactory proof of your financial ability to purchase the property
  • Seller's promise to provide clear title (ownership)
  • Target date for closing
  • Amount of earnest money accompanying the offer, how it's to be returned to you if the offer is rejected and how it is disbursed if you back out for no good reason. (Earnest money is a “Good Faith” deposit on the property that is usually held by an attorney or the listing agent's real estate company. It becomes part of your down payment).
  • Inspections that you plan to conduct and the time frame and method for addressing any issues that an inspector might find Method by which real estate taxes, rents, fuel, water bills, assessments, etc. are to be adjusted (prorated) between Buyer and Seller Provisions about who will pay for title insurance, survey, termite inspections, etc.
  • Type of deed to be given
  • A provision that the Buyer make a last minute walk through inspection of the property just before the closing Any miscellaneous provisions (the swing set in the back yard does not remain, the pool table in the basement stays and is included in the purchase price)
  • A time limit after which the offer will expire