The week ran away from me and I spent 15 minutes trying to remember my password today....
The markets have been friendly to interest rates this week and the trend looks like it should continue. This should help to spring some life in to the SPRING market. Unfortunately as rates come down...gas prices are going up.
Well it is time to get the realtor's to work for and with you. Meet with them and go over what it is you are looking for in a house and let them know what price range you have been pre-approved for. With this information the realtor can start searching for homes based on your constraints. As hoes are found the realtor will set up showings and go with you to them to look at the property.
Once you have a property that you want to buy you will draft a purchase agreement with the realtor. The realtor may suggest a price to offer on the home but you can offer anything that you want and the realtor has an obligation to present it. When you present an offer you will need to put down what they call earnest money. This is usually an amount ranging from $500-$2000 for most homes. This is money that is deposited into an account with the real estate company until closing and it counted towards your down payment. Simply put this is money that is for "good intentions" of buying the home. If for some reason your loan ended up being denied you would get this money back.
When you present an offer on the home you will typically negotiate or counter. What this means is that you may offer one thing and the seller may come back with something different and you may go back and forth. Typical items that are countered are the price of the home, seller paid costs and closing dates.
Once an offer is accepted your realtor will provide the lender with a copy of the purchase agreement. At that time the lender will review the information and discuss interest rates and locking in with you. They will also collect for the appraisal and get that completed as well as ordering the title work.
The title company is also your right to choose. But typically the listing agent of the house you are buying will like to use their company. This is not unusual but you do ave the right to shop for the best deal on this and pick the company that you want. Your lender may even have some suggestions on this.
One thing that you may be doing right after you have your offer accepted; and is highly suggested, is to have a home inspection done on the home. This is different then the appraisal. The appraisal does look for some defects and such but is primarily based on value and an appraiser does not warrant the working condition of a home. The home inspection is very complete and everything is checked. What is nice about this is that you may find something wrong with the house and get the seller to take care of it. A purchase agreement is always contingent on you getting your financing and a home inspection so if it is not good, you have an out.
Well you are now in the home stretch of the process.....and headed for closing....what all happens? we will go over that in our next blog.
I have started following a person that I know that does life coaching and she has some good stuff that she puts out.....so remember that if you wait for the screams you will miss the whispers.
Have and awesome weekend and bring on March!
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