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The Home Buying Process
Finding the right home starts with finding a good lender. You need
to know how much home you can afford, how much money you will need
for down payment and closing costs, and what your monthly payments
will be. A lender can pre-approve you for a loan and issue an
approval letter. This is invaluable when you are negotiating on a
home! If more than one comparable offer has been received the seller
will always choose the buyer who has the financing in place.
The next step is determining which neighborhoods you prefer within
your budget. Since the first rule of real estate is location,
location, location, we always recommend choosing the best community
you can afford even if it means choosing a somewhat smaller home, as
long as the home will accommodate your lifestyle comfortably. Then
when you are ready to sell the home and move on you will be assured
of the maximum appreciation.
Once we have identified several neighborhoods to look in, our
advanced computer systems allows us to customize your search to fit
your special needs. We can search by size, number of bedrooms &
garages, school zones, lot size, pools, fireplaces, floor plan
style, etc. We will preview the homes for you, and only show you the
ones we know are the best on the market for price and condition. And
don't worry, you will know the home when you walk into it! It will
feel like your space.
Next we need to negotiate an offer with the seller. The two most
crucial points in the contract will be the selling price and the
closing date. To find the proper offer price, we will do a market
analysis on the neighborhood for you and determine how much other
similar homes have been selling for.
It's okay to offer a seller less than the listed price, but don't
expect him to consider a ridiculous amount. Most sellers become
highly insulted by "low-ball" offers and retaliate in kind. The key
is to try and figure out an amount that is slightly less than what
he was expecting to get, and that is close enough that he gets more
nervous about losing a possible sale than about the sales price.
Also take into consideration how you will feel if you lose the house
to another buyer. Sometimes trying to save a couple of thousand
dollars is not worth losing the home of your dreams.
It is also a great idea to give the seller MORE earnest deposit than
he asked for. This is the "sincerity" money which is placed into
escrow as soon as the contract is negotiated. Giving the seller more
guarantees him you are serious about his home and can go through
with the sale. It also might make him agree to a lesser sales price.
After the offer is accepted it is time to choose a home inspector.
We always recommend having one, even on new construction. They will
go through the home and up in the attics checking all the major
systems. They will find defects a normal buyer could not reasonably
expect to discover and often the seller doesn't know about them
either. A few hundred dollars invested here can save you thousands.
The lender will also be sending out an appraiser. The appraiser's
job is to make sure you are not paying more than fair market value
for the property.
Then it's time to work on turning on the utilities, transferring
medical records, registering for schools, etc. while the lender is
processing your final loan paperwork.
About four days prior to the recording date we will do a final walk
through inspection of the home. We will check to make sure
everything in the home is still in good working condition and
anything noted by the home inspector has been fixed. Then you will
go to the escrow company or attorney’s office to sign the final loan
documents and take in a cashier's check for the balance of the down
payment and closing costs.
The day your home is recorded at the county recorder's office is the
day you get your keys. This is when title is actually transferred
from the seller's name to yours, and it's time to open a bottle of
champagne to celebrate!
Article by Diann E. Tonnesen, Realtor®
Las Vegas Nevada Real Estate
Las Vegas Nevada Condos
Las Vegas Golf Homes
Henderson New Homes
This article is copy write protected and may only be reprinted with
permission of the author. Any use of this article without express
written permission of the author will be prosecuted to the fullest
extent allowed by law.
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