I am a full service, full time REALTOR® dedicated to my clients' successes. I act as a fiduciary partner with my clients carefully analyzing needs, listening to their goals and guiding them toward the best possible outcomes.
What I WILL do:
- Carefully analyze your individual needs, actively listen to understand your motivations.
- Guide you and provide you with the most up to date and accurate information to help you make your most informed decisions.
- Keep you apprised of your options, protect your rights and inform you of your obligations.
- Make myself available for your needs instead of spending my time chasing after new business.
- Work with you through the various steps and obstacles of the purchasing process to ensure all parties have met their contractual obligations and are released from further warranties and claims.
What I WON’T do:
- Push for any action that doesn’t meet the outcome that you desire or sit well with you. All decisions are yours to make. I’m here to guide and inform and ultimately – listen to YOU.
- Pacify you. I don’t want you to settle, and I don’t want you to miss an opportunity. Straightforward is the best business practice.
- Disappear after the sale. My job doesn’t end when the sold sign goes up. I am here for any questions you have, now or years into the future.
Steps To Purchasing Your Home
SELECT AN AGENT
To start your home-buying journey, it’s important to hire a real estate agent. With expertise in the real estate market and process, an agent serves as a trusted source of information to help you make informed decisions. There are countless brokerages and agents to choose from, so the challenge isn’t just finding an agent, but finding the right agent for you. Follow these tips to help make sure you hire an agent who best fits your needs.
Research the Options
Do some investigating! You can learn a lot about a real estate agent with a little online research. Check out their website, social media accounts and online reviews. Ask friends and family members if they recommend an agent they’ve enjoyed working with.
Interview and Ask the Right Questions
Interview multiple agents before selecting the one. This allows you to gauge their style, experience and whether or not your personalities work well together. Make sure to ask questions about what to expect during the home-buying process, and find out how often – and via what methods – they’ll be available for you to contact. Ask how long they’ve been in real estate, what areas they sell and if this is their main job. Don’t assume experience goes with age or that the agent isn’t a part timer with a full time commitment elsewhere.
GET PREAPPROVED
The next step is to get preapproved for a mortgage. Preapproval for a loan provides insight into how much house you can afford. Here are reasons why getting preapproved is so important and can accelerate the path toward homeownership.
It Allows Homebuyers to Know Their Limits
Being aware and respectful of a budget saves time and prevents prospective homebuyers from daydreaming about out-of-budget homes. The less ambiguous homebuyers are about what they may be able to afford, the more efficient the home search will be. Having a mortgage professional review your credit, income and other financial liabilities will give you the advantage of knowing what you may be able to comfortably afford. Your mortgage professional will issue a preapproval letter to you and, armed with that, you can work with your agent to make sure the homes they show you are within your budget.”
It Opens Doors – Literally
When a home is listed, ready, willing and able buyers are looking at it in person. Those who are preapproved and able to purchase today. Appointments are scheduled to accomodate qualified prospective buyers. The homeowner has in most cases, gone to great length to tidy up the house, remove the pets and kids and figured out another plan for dinner to be out of the house while prospective buyers are looking. As a professional courtesy, agents aren’t filling up limited showing timeframes with unqualified buyers. In very limited circumstances a home may be shown regardless of qualification status such as during open houses or through a shared recorded tour. Agents and homeowners will not entertain an offer, even in writing, from anyone not already preapproved so it makes sense they would not entertain showings of buyers not yet qualified.
It Shows Sellers the Homebuyer is Serious
The real estate market is a volatile, competitive space. Having a pre-qualification or preapproval letter in hand lets the seller know you mean business and you can confidently make a purchase of their home. It’s not uncommon in this market for sellers and their real estate agents to insist on seeing a preapproval letter prior to showing the home.
It Helps Homebuyers Know How Much to Save
Prepare for success by planning and goal setting. By being organized and reasonable, homebuyers may avoid unnecessary roadblocks on the path to homeownership. In running through the numbers with your mortgage professional, you’ll know exactly where you stand financially in preparation for this big decision. Understanding how much money you’ll need to bring to closing, including down payment and closing costs, will help you better manage your spending and helps plot a course to help you achieve your goal of homeownership.
SEARCH FOR HOMES
After determining your budget, it’s time to begin searching for homes. Be realistic by identifying your wants versus your needs before beginning your search.
What may seem like the start of an exciting adventure can surely become exhausting if you’re not prepared. With a bit of planning and legwork, you’ll be sure to find a home that fits your needs in no time.
- Define your wants and needs vs. needs.
- Communicate with your agent and others helping your or involved in your purchase.
- Act quickly and decisively from making time to view, to making decisions.
- Don't be too picky. Refer back to your list of must-haves and remember that no property is perfect.
MAKE AN OFFER
Once you find a home you love, your agent will prepare to make an offer based on the price and terms you choose. Including an offer letter helps distinguish yourself from other candidates in some instances. Quickly and decisively, any information should be obtained and considered through county and public records as well as any specifics that you are independently relying on to make this decision to purchase your home.
Key Components of Your Offer
- Property legal description and all conveyances
- Whether or not the offer is a secondary
- Purchase offer price including deposit, loan conditions and seller concessions
- Inspection period contingency election of various home inspection types
- Prorations withheld from selling including charges/escrows to both parties
- Explanation of the title provided
- Escalation terms if applicable
OFFER ACCEPTANCE
Negotiating:
I take the ethical responsibility of fairly negotiating contractual terms very seriously. It's my job to find a win-win agreement that is beneficial to my clients and responsible for all parties involved. You may have to work through multiple offers before ratifying the one you judge to be most suitable to you and as your REALTOR®, I guarantee a thorough and objective assessment of each offer to help you make the right choice.
Initial Agreement and Deposit: A signed offer is a legal arrangement between a purchaser and seller. Laws vary state to state but in order to be legally binding, the contract must be signed by all parties. Most of the time consideration is offered such as a $1,000 or a 1% good faith offering and is held in the closing agent’s escrow account pending the fulfillment of conditions or contingencies to the effective agreement.
Written Records of Everything: For clarity, it is extremely useful to transcribe all verbal agreements and discussions including counter offers and addendums and convert them to written agreements to be signed by all parties. I’ll assist you in drafting all paperwork for your sale and make sure that you have copies of everything.
Sticking to the Schedule: Now that you have your purchase agreement, you have a timeline of dates that will be met by all parties that I and the other agent, if there is one, will coordinate and make sure you’re aware of and are met in time. Meeting every requirement on time ensures a smoother flow of negotiations and also ensures that each party involved is not in breech of their obligations. During the process I will keep you constantly updated so you will always be prepared for the next steps.
ESCROW, INSPECTIONS AND APPRAISALS
Most buyers will have the property inspected by a licensed property inspector within the time frame that was agreed upon in the effective contract to purchase. Some buyers will have several different inspectors inspect the property, if they wish to obtain professional opinions from inspectors who specialize in a specific area (roof, HVAC, structure). If the agreement is conditional upon financing, then the property will be appraised by a licensed appraiser to determine the value for the lending institution via third party. This is done so that the lending institution can confirm their investment in your property is accurate. A buyer of a commercial property may also have a complete environmental audit performed and/or soil test, if required by the lending institution
The Closing Agent: A title company will be selected as the closing agent, whose job is to examine and insure clear title to real estate. After researching the complete recorded history of the property, they will certify that the title is free and clear of encumbrances (mortgages, leases, restrictions and liens) by the date of closing; and 2) all new encumbrances are duly included in the title.
Contingencies: These are conditions that must be met in order to continue forward with the binding agreement. A buyer will usually include a contingency stating they will continue forward after a home inspector inspects the property and they accept the condition. Other contingencies may be financing and insurance, review of certain documents pertaining to the bylaws or association of the property, a review of the title report, property disclosures and possibly more inspections and reviews.
Final Negotiations: Depending on the outcome of any of these mentioned contingencies, one of three things may happen. Either each milestone is successfully closed and the contingencies are removed in writing, bringing you a step closer to your closing; or the buyer, after reviewing, requests a renegotiation of price or other terms in the agreement; or they may for some reason decide to release from the agreement subject to their rights to do so.
Respond objectively: How do you respond objectively and fairly when a seller appears unreasonable? This is when a REALTOR® can make a real difference in the outcome of the transaction. I guarantee my expertise and title commitment to every client, no matter the situation or personal opinion on the matter.
Loan Approval and Appraisal: As your REALTOR® I will have verified your preapproval before you even enter into an Agreement and be sure you understand your loan terms so that there are NO surprises. In addition, I'll keep you advised of area purchase prices and values that may affect this home's value. When obtaining a loan, an appraiser will review your property and verify that the sales price is appropriate for the collateral that is being purchased.
CLOSE OF ESCROW
It’s here and it means it’s almost time for congratulations, but not just yet. There are some loose ends to tie up.
Final Walk-Through: More a formality, the walk through takes place within a few days before the closing. You will visit the property to verify all is in working order, everything is just the same as it was the day you viewed the property last and that there are no items, major damage or appliances missing.
Be Prepared for Last Minute Surprises: I am ready to assist you should any unforeseen glitch pop up even at this last stage. If something at the property breaks down or the loan doesn’t pull through on time, there’s no need to worry. I know how to efficiently and effectively handle any issues in a stress-free manner.
Cancel Home Services and Utilities: Not before, but once the property has transferred, it’s time to call utilities to put them into your name within a day or two of the property being transferred.
Closing: On closing day, parties will sign their respective documents to complete the sale of the property. Closing in this case simply means signing day. The property will still need to be transferred at the county recorder’s office before it is officially sold and transferred which is usually the following day.
The closing agent will furnish all parties with a settlement statement summarizing the details of the financial transactions including charges and credits to each side of the transaction.
IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers’ personal, non-commercial use and that it may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed to be accurate. Listing information updated daily.
