The first step in the home buying process is finding out how much you can afford to spend on your new home. To do this, you’ll need to provide a lender like The Abair Team with an initial overview of your finances. Using that information he or she will be able to provide you with a mortgage pre-qualification, or letter stating your loan limit. Learn more about how it works on our mortgage pre-qualification page.
After you’ve been approved for financing, you’re ready to start looking at properties! You’ll sit down with your REALTOR® and draw up a list of must-have features for your new home. Then, the fun part. You’ll go on showings to tour potential properties until you find the one.
Once you’ve found a property that you can see yourself moving into, it’s time to submit an offer. Your agent will help you draw up the particulars like sale price and settlement date. Then, he or she will submit it to the seller’s agent for review, negotiation, and - finally - acceptance.
After your offer has been accepted, it’s officially time to apply for a mortgage. We’ll sit down with you to go over the loan programs that best fit your needs, how to lock in the best interest rate, and to walk you through the application process.
At the same time, you’ll need to schedule your inspections. After they’ve been completed, you’ll review the suggested repairs to the home. At that point, you can either negotiate with the seller over repair costs or decide to walk away and look for another property.
After your inspections have been settled, we’ll send out an appraiser to ensure that the property is being sold at a fair value for the current market. The appraiser will inspect different features of the property - square footage, upgrades, and other recent sales in the area - and come up with an valuation. If the sale price is substantially different from the appraised value, you can ask for an appeal, renegotiate the sale price with the seller, or choose to walk away from the sale.
In addition to the appraisal, both the agents and the title company will be working to gather the information needed to transfer the deed into your name. At the same time, an underwriter from your mortgage company will be verifying your financials in order to secure your mortgage.
Closing is the last step in the process. Everyone involved comes together to sign paperwork, settle closing costs, and hand over the keys to your new home.
A smooth and efficient mortgage process is essential if you want to make it to the settlement table. To help you navigate the process, we’ve outlined a few do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.
DO: Hand in Your Financial Paperwork ASAP
DON’T: Make any Big Purchases Without Talking to Your Lender First (Including Furniture)
DO: Ask Your Loan Rep Before Making Any Financial or Job Changes
DON’T: Open a New Line of Credit
DO: Meet Deadlines
DON’T: Pay Off Any Large Bills or Credit Cards (Without Asking First)
We’re committed to helping clients through the home buying process from start to finish. If you’re ready to take your first step, get started by pre-qualifying today.
