The first time buying a home is an emotional, exciting, and also exhausting experience. You may also be wondering along the way—what am I missing? This is a common question. Here’s how the buying 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. Think about what your "non negotiables" are. This will help later on when communicating your wish list with your real estate agent.
- Figure out your budget. You may have a rough idea, but it may be beneficial to use a mortgage calculator to give you a rough estimate of what your monthly mortgage payment would be if you were to purchase one of these homes you’ve found online. However, I would highly suggest you reach out to a lender who will help you figure out the best budget for you. In Nevada County, insurance tends to be a bit pricier, so I am happy to give you the names of a few local insurance agents who will give you a realistic estimate
- Get pre-approved. To get pre-approved for a mortgage you’ll need to get some paperwork ready: pay stubs, W-2s, 1099s, bank account statements, tax returns for the past two years, and credit lines, and perhaps names and addresses of your landlords for the past two years. I am You can start with your current bank, but make sure you check out competitor banks and other lenders as well – you might get a better mortgage loan rate by shopping around. Considering a local lender is extremely beneficial as there are external factors here in Nevada County that they are familiar with such as the higher cost of insurance. To give you a realistic insurance estimate, I am happy to provide you with the names of local insurance agent, who understand the insurance landscape her in Nevada County, particularly around fire insurance. Also, consider the amount your lender approves you for as a maximum.
- Find an agent. Find a real estate agent that you trust and will both be there for you and help you navigate the process every step of the way. I pride myself on my responsiveness, integrity, availability, honesty, agent relationships, market knowledge, local knowledge and ethics. I would love to support your home buying or selling journey!
- Look at homes. Be patient at this stage, you could find the one immediately or it could be more of a process. Your real estate agent may show you a variety of homes to get your reaction on features they think you’ll like. Give your agent detailed feedback so they can learn more about what you are looking for to best find homes that are perfectly suited to you. As I said, sometimes, this process can take months or years! I stay on top of the market and new inventory to send listings to my clients immediately. Keep in mind, if you do find the perfect property immediately or if the market is hot, having your pre-approval is imperative to being able to make an offer.
- 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. Depending on the market and property, you may go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. Your real estate agent should be your advocate here, which is why trust is so important between you and your agent.
- An accepted offer. Yay! If you reach an agreement, you’ll make a deposit to an escrow account to show good-faith. Typical escrow is usually 30 days where the seller takes the house off the market with the contractual expectation that you’ll purchase the house. Escrow can be longer or shorter depending on the financing and terms.
- Do a home inspection. Even if the home appears to be flawless, there’s no substitute for having a professional inspector review the property for quality, safety, and general condition of your potential home. You don’t want to be surprised with a home that needs a lot of unexpected repairs. If the inspection reveals undisclosed serious defects, you can negotiate further to have the seller make repairs or discount the selling price. You’ll also likely have the option to withdraw your offer and get your deposit money back.
- Closing. When your negotiations with the seller are successful, and the inspection came back clean or any repairs have been accounted for, you should be ready to close. At your closing, you’ll spend a little over an hour signing lots of paperwork and then will be handed the keys!
