Choosing a Realtor®
Of all the decisions you'll face when buying a home, there's none more important than the person you choose to represent you.
The job of your Sales Associate is to support you in finding the right home with the best possible terms, and to aid you through the entire process. Your Sales Associate will explain the process of buying a home, and familiarize you with the various activities, documents and procedures that you will experience throughout thetransaction.
Tips For Selecting A Realtor®
Your Real Estate Professional should be:
- Knowledgeable about the communities of interest to you.
- Aware of the complicated local and state requirements affecting your transaction.
- Effective in multi-party, face-to-face negotiations.
- Highly-trained, with access to programs for continued learning and additional certifications.
- Technology-focused.
- Supported by professional legal counsel.
Financing
Most real estate professionals and mortgage lenders recommend pre-qualifying for a loan before selecting a home to purchase. This process will help you:
- Determine the price range you can afford.
- Understand the types of loans you qualify for.
- Determine what your monthly payment will be.
- Estimate the down payment and closing costs.
The Loan Process
Your Sales Associate
will help you to select a mortgage lender. Once you have made your decision, these are the steps of the process:
Application - All pertinent documentation is obtained. Fees and down payments are discussed, and the borrower will receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and a Truth-in-lending statement (TIL), itemizing the rates and associated costs for the loan.
You will be asked to provide certain documents to your lender in order that your loan can be processed in a timely manner.
Loan Submission - Once all the necessary documentation is in, your completed file is submitted to a lender for approval.
Loan Approval (Underwriting) - Loan approval, or underwriting, generally takes 24 to 72 hours. All parties are notified of the approval and any loan conditions that must be received before the loan can close.
Closing - Once all parties have signed the loan documents, they are returned to the lender. If all the forms have been properly executed, the lender sends the loan funds by wire transfer. At this point, the borrower finishes the loan process and actually buys the house.
Finding and Choosing the Right Home
Based on criteria that you and your Sales Associate establish together, your Associate will help you find the perfect home. There are many factors to consider in selecting a property, including location, bedroom and bath count, schools and amenities.
Your Sales Associate will apply their extensive community knowledge and professional resources to research available properties, and show you the homes that best meet your needs. If you find a property that interests you through the Internet or your own research, let your Sales Associate know so that a showing can be arranged.
As you view different properties, your criteria may change. Open and direct communication with your Sales Associate is a key element of a successful property search.
Making an Offer
Once you have found the home that you wish to purchase, your Sales Associate will apply their professional training and do all the necessary research to help you structure an effective offer.
This is where your Sales Associate's negotiation skills come into play. When an offer is made, the seller will have the option of accepting, rejecting or counter-offering. Your Sales Associate will negotiate the best possible terms for you.
Your Sales Associate will draft the purchase agreement, advising you of protective contingencies, customary practices, and local regulations. Home warranty, title and escrow arrangements will be detailed in the offer. Although your Sales Associate will give you advice and information, it is your decision as to the exact price and terms that you wish to offer.
Managing the Escrow
When the purchase agreement is accepted and signed by all parties, your Sales Associate will open escrow for you and your earnest money will be deposited. The escrow is a neutral third party that will receive, hold, and distribute all funds associated with your transaction.
Removing Contingencies
Prior to closing escrow, all of the contingencies of the Purchase Agreement must be met. Your Sales Associate will coordinate this process. Typical contingencies include:
- Approval of the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement.
- Approval of the preliminary title report.
- Loan approval, including an appraisal of the property.
- Physical inspections of the property.
- Pest inspection and certification.
- Acquisition of homeowner's insurance.
Closing Escrow and Moving In!
When all of the conditions of the purchase agreement have been met, you will sign your loan documents and closing papers. You will deposit the balance of your down payment and closing costs to escrow, and your lender will deposit the balance of the purchase price. The deed will then be recorded at the County Recorder's office and youwill take ownership of your home.
Your Sales Associate is a valuable source of helpful tips for planning and coordinating your move.
5 Need-to-Knows Before You Move Into the Neighborhood
Buying
a home can feel like the most intense research project ever -
to make a smart buy, you’ve got to get educated about mortgages,
learn how to read a contract, do a deep dive into property condition
issues or homeowner’s associations and pay attention to what’s
going on in the economic news and the real estate market. But
there’s at least one more area wise buyers don’t neglect:
neighborhood research.
We
know, at a gut level, what kind of neighborhoods we like - tree-lined
streets, convenient shops, etc. and so forth. But what specific
details should you investigate before you buy or move into an area?
Here are 5 items you definitely need-to-know before you move
into a neighborhood:
1.
Details
on Shady Dealings. Most
of us think we know which sides of the railroad tracks, so to speak,
have high crime rates and which are supposedly safe. But before
you buy a home or move into a neighborhood, it behooves you to
actually do the research and see whether or not your beliefs are
accurate. Check out the Megan’s Law databases to see where
registered sex offenders may live, especially if you have young
children or other reasons to be particularly worried. Google your address (See Trulia details) which
might pop up details such as whether your intended home has ever been
a meth lab, among other things.
And,
whatever you do, don’t forget to tap into Trulia’s new Crime
Maps –
in a number of metro areas (which will be constantly expanding), you
can view uber-detailed (and sometimes surprising!) crime data that is
uber-relevant to you. If you’re trying to decide between two
homes in different parts of town, you can even toggle back and forth
between the neighborhoods to compare them! For example, some
neighborhoods have a spike in car break-ins after people leave for
work. Or maybe one side of your street-to-be has a
significantly higher rate of violent crimes than the other.
That’s the
kind of thing you should find out before you
move in, don’tcha think?
2.
How Recession-Resistant it is.
Let’s
face facts: some neighborhoods, cities and states have fared better
than others over the course of the recession. An area’s
proximity to job opportunities, saturation with troubled subprime
loans and the amount of housing supply (vs. demand) all have
something to do with whether prices plummeted or have held up over
the last few years.
Sometimes,
a neighborhood’s recession-proofness (or -proneness) is obvious:
if the street on which you’re house hunting is riddled with
‘For Sale’ signs (and foreclosure riders on top of them), or you
know for a fact that the home you’re buying is a short sale for
which the sellers paid double your price just 5 years ago, you might
be in an area that has been hard hit. Also, if your neighborhood has
a sky-high rate of price
reductions or
it is much less expensive to buy
than to rent a
home in your area, these are other indicators that the recession
might have hit your district pretty hard.
The
fact of the matter is, some of the hardest hit neighborhoods are
where the best deals are to be found, so I’m not necessarily
suggesting that you shy away from buying in such an area. But
do know that the harder hit areas might take longer to see an uptick
in home values, too, so the harder hit your neighborhood was by the
real estate recession, the longer you should plan on staying put
before you buy, to make sure you don’t end up needing to sell and
stuck in an upside-down home. While a 5 to 7 year plan might
make sense in an area where the real estate market has been pretty
robust over the last few years, you might want to be okay with
planning to hold your home upwards of 10 years before buying in a
foreclosure-riddled area (and you might also want to make absolutely
sure you’re very happy with the deal you’re getting).
On
the flip side, the more recession-resistant your area has been, the
more likely you are to encounter sellers with less flexibility on
pricing or even, gasp!, multiple offers!
3.
The Neighborhood’s Flavor. Is
the area you’re considering a hot spot for outdoor adventures and
family events at the park, or chi chi restaurants and wine tastings
at the museum? Find out by pulling up some old listings
scrolling down the see how others who have lived in the area have
rated and reviewed it.
4.
Where are the hot spots? Before
you buy or move into an area, equip yourself with a knowledge of
where all the stores, farmer’s markets, parks, restaurants and
other hot spots your family will want to use are located vis-a-vis
your home-to-be. (Hint: your local real estate agent is a fabulous
source for this kind of information - they are especially gifted at
knowing where the good food and shopping is!)
It
also makes sense to search the web for the various sorts of things
your family is into, and your new neighborhood’s name. Then, drive around and see what
you can see - or find someone to drive for you.
5.
What the neighborhood looks and feels like at different times
of day/different days of the week. Have
you ever visited a Sunday afternoon open house when the sun was
shining, birds were singing, and charming neighborhood rugrats were
rolling their hoops up the street? (Okay - that was a century
or two ago, but you get the gist.) Then, you come back a couple
of weeks later for your inspections at dusk and find those same
rugrats (or their parents!) spraying graffiti all over “your”
garage, the neighbors’ underpants flapping on the line in the front
yard and the other neighbors’ music blaring? File that under
disappointing.
The
nature of a neighborhoods changes - sometimes dramatically - before
and after the sun goes down. Also, if you visit a home during
the week or when it’s cold and rainy out, the street will
undoubtedly be busier and noisier - more reflective of the extremes
you should be aware of - on the weekend or when the weather is grand.
So, before you buy, go see the place in sunlight and after
dark, during the week and on the weekend. And, again, there’s
nothing wrong with knocking on the neighbors’ doors, telling them
you’re thinking of buying, and seeing what kind of insider
information you can glean from them!