Buying a home 101

                                                                      

1. Pre approval. This is a very valuable tool. Buying a home can be very stressful for clients and emotional @ times. Being pre approved greatly reduces the potential roller coaster of emotions when finding the home you want only for the bank to decline. Being pre approved is not a guarantee but it enables me to find you a home that you will appreciate aesthetically in addition being financially at peace over your purchase.

2. Preferences. Narrow down your search buy “Must Haves” The broader your search the more homes you’ll be emailed. I would suggest that you keep yourself open minded at first. After you have looked over many homes you’ll start to get a better feel for what the market has to offer. Ironically, most clients who have very specific criteria to begin with usually end up with very different criteria in the end! lol

3. MLS search via email. Check your email to be sure you are receiving emails from SIRA. The email title will read “client portal system”. This serves as a client portal into the mls system for your viewing. Once you open the email double click on “View Listings. You may have to check your junk mailto be sure it’s not getting thrown out of your inbox by your spam filter. Some virus software programs require you to add this site as a trusted site on your firewall settings as well. I am not tech savvy when it comes to different programs but SIRA has a tech support team you can call in a pinch (1-866-730-7114). Your matches will be categorized into newly matched, saved, and rejected tabs. As you view each listing you will want to select either , or . This will remove unwanted listing from your portal. Also, I can then view which homes you liked and get a better feel for preferences. The listings will also be categorized by residential, commercial, farm, and vacant land. This viewing tool will allow you to see pictures, price, # of bedrooms/ bathrooms, square footage, lot size, etc… On the bottom left hand corner of every individual listing there is a post comments link. Please feel free to write me private feedback if you have a strong positive or negative opinion related to that home. If find a home you want to see inside, please call me and I will book it! For support by phone, call: (866) 730-7114
4. Drive by window-shopping. I highly recommend you spend some time driving through the area(s) you are interested in. The Internet is a great way to browse hundreds of listing in the comfort of your home. It doesn’t however always accurately depict the setting surrounding a home. Sometimes a few blocks east or west can change the entire mood of the neighborhood or a few mature trees can provide tremendous privacy.

5. Showings. As discussed in an earlier letter, I love to show houses. It is the best way to visualize your self living in a home. Allow yourself plenty of time to view each home. If we have scheduled multiple showings in one day I would recommend that you not book more than 6 in a day. After you have done the window-shopping most clients find it easy to narrow their selections down just by the outside appearance or neighborhood. Speed showings are necessary for out of town buyers but I don’t recommend them for anyone local. It’s amazing how quickly the excitement will wear you down.

6. Making an offer. Once you have decided on a home that you’d like to purchase a written offer will be submitted to the seller. Specific criteria about the offer will be discussed and documented in a purchase agreement. The process of bartering varies from deal to deal but during this time I will be in close contact with you in effort to keep you informed. I will make every effort to support you and advise you of the legal process. Once we have an accepted offer it’s back to the bank!

7. Closing. If your going to borrow money from financial lender, know that they each have different programs and different criteria for each program. The bank will require a home inspection and sometimes a termite inspection. The process for the bank to verify incomes/debt, credit ratings, inspections, title work etc. can take up to 45 days. I find that for clients this is usually the most difficult part of buying a home. Waiting. I would recommend that you call your loan officer/broker once a week. I would appreciate you sharing any information you are given with me as well. On occasion I will receive a phone call or email from the bank related to appraisals and closing but much of the information that is transpired between you and the banks is and should be keep confidential. Please trust that I will always keep any information related to your finances private