Home buying can be an emotional, exciting, and possibly an exhausting experience, but it doesn't' have to be. Roxanne and her 25 years of experience will be right there with you to guide you through the buying process from start to finish.
Do some preliminary online searching. Check into what homes are selling for in the areas you’re interested in to give you an idea of what you’re looking for. This will help when we chat further about zeroing in on communities & homes of interest.
Take care of the budget. Use an online mortgage calculator to determine what your monthly mortgage payment would be if you were to purchase one of these homes you’ve found online. Make some additional estimates for utilities and see if this fits into your budget. If you are a cash buyer, even easier! But we will still review community fees, real estate taxes, etc.
Get pre-approved. To get pre-approved for a mortgage you’ll need to get some paperwork ready: pay stubs, W-2s, bank account statements, tax returns for the past two years, and credit lines. Roxanne works closely with lenders to fit everyone's needs, just ask her for her list of local, reputable lenders.
Let's go look at communities/homes. Be patient at this stage. We'll discuss a variety of homes to get your reaction on features she thinks you’ll like. Be sure and give Roxanne detailed feedback, so she can show you homes that are perfectly suited to your wants & needs. Sometimes, this process can take a few months—so be patient.
Time to make an offer. Once we’ve found your dream home, we will want to move quickly. Roxanne will guide you on a reasonable first offer to start negotiations based on market conditions and past Sold homes in the area.
Negotiate 101. Prepare for us go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. Roxanne will be your advocate here and work hard to get you as much as possible for your money!
We have an accepted offer. Pop the champagne or ginger ale! When we reach an agreement, you’ll make a deposit to an escrow account to show good-faith in apx 3-5 days from executed contract. Escrow closing is usually for 30 days, where the seller takes the house off the market (Pending) with the contractual expectation that you’ll purchase the house - provided you don’t find any serious problems during the home inspection.
Let’s order a home inspection. Even if the home appears to be flawless, there’s no substitute for having a professional inspector review the property for quality, safety, and general condition of your potential home. You don’t want to be surprised with a home that needs a lot of unexpected repairs. If the inspection reveals undisclosed serious defects, you can negotiate further to have the seller make repairs or discount the selling price. You’ll also likely have the option to withdraw your offer and get your deposit money back. Roxanne will provide you with 3 home inspectors that she uses frequently.
We're going to Closing. When your negotiations with the seller are successful, and the inspection came back clean, you should be ready to close. At your closing, you’ll spend a little over an hour signing lots of paperwork and then will be handed the keys. If you are paying cash, the closing process takes approximately 30 minutes. Closing will take place at the title company's office or if you are out of town, Roxanne will have a mail-away closing set up for you!
