Buy your dream property with confidence

So, you want to buy a house—now what? The first time buying a home is an emotional, exciting, and also exhausting experience. Here’s a primer on how the process works from start to finish.

• Do some preliminary online searching. Check into what homes are selling for in the areas you’re interested in to give you an idea of what you’re looking for. This will help later on when communicating your wish list with your real estate agent.
• Estimate your budget. Use an online mortgage calculator to determine what your monthly mortgage payment would be if you were to purchase one of these homes you’ve found online. Make some additional estimates for utilities and see if this fits into your budget.
• Get pre-approved.  If you are financing we recommend speaking to lenders before looking at houses - this let's you know your loan limit so you can confidently view houses that fit your budget.  Furthermore,  today's market often requires you to act fast and it is a very good idea to have your pre-approval letter ready to go so you are not scrambling when you see "the one.".  . Starting with your current bank is usually a good idea but make sure you check out competitor banks as well.  Rates and fees can very greatly and we highly recommend you shop for a mortgage for anything else.  Additionally, applying with multiple lenders within a two week period will not hurt your credit score - all applications for a mortgage in that time frame count as single inquiry.
  
• Find an agent and start looking at homes. A good real estate agent will help you navigate the process every step of the way. Your friends and family will be great sources—see if any of your trusted contacts have someone they recommend.
• Make an offer. Once you’ve found your dream home, you may want to move quickly. Your agent will guide you on a reasonable first offer to start negotiations based on market conditions. Also, make sure you consider closing costs which could account for 2-5% of the home price.
• Negotiate. Prepare to go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. Your real estate agent will be your advocate here and try to get you, their client as much as possible for your money while being fair and respectful to the seller and their real estate agent.
• An accepted offer. Pop the champagne! If you reach an agreement, you’ll make a deposit to an escrow account to show good-faith (usually around 1% of the purchase price).  This money will go towards your closing costs if your deal closes, and will be returned to you if it falls through through no fault of your own (low appraisal, failed inspection, loan denial, etc)
  
• Appraisal and inspections. If you are financing ,the few weeks after acceptance will be primarily working with your lender and getting them required documents you need while the appraisal and inspection (if any) get done.
  
• Closing.  After the successful appraisal, inspection and loan commitment from your lender you will be"clear to close" and the closing will be scheduled.  At your closing, you’ll spend a little over an hour signing lots of paperwork and then will be handed the keys (It is usually no problem to do this remotely if needed)