Vicki's 8 Step Home Buying Process

Buying a home can be an overwhelming process. You might be concerned about being taken advantage of, making mistakes, or getting poor information during the transaction. Working as your Buyers Agent and your Real Estate Advocates, our team and I take pride in making sure you know your options and are kept informed and educated throughout the process. Buying a home should be exciting and fun! My goal is to make this an enjoyable, stress-free, profitable experience for you. By providing a significantly higher level of service, I strive to build a long-term relationship with you as your Personal Real Estate Consultant. Here is an overview of the process we will go through:

1. Lender Pre-Approval
   • I will assist you in contacting a selection of quality lenders that are able to make sure that you get the home you want once we've found it. Getting fully pre-approved is like money in the bank. You are like a CASH buyer to the Seller.
   • Once you are pre-approved, the lender will give us a letter that we can provide with an offer to confirm your ability to buy the property. This letter is what I call your "lender ticket to ride"! We don't waste time looking at properties until we know what you can afford to buy.
   • The lender will also provide you with a Good Faith Estimate to show approximately what it will take for you to complete a transaction and your future payment based on the price at which you are qualified.
2. Buyer Orientation
   • Once the pre-approval process is complete, we will meet to discuss your needs and wants, how I work, and what the process will look like.
   • If we decide to work together, we will complete a Buyer Agency contract that allows me to represent you for a limited period of time without an obligation for you to be the one to pay me a commission. I only get paid if I help you get what you want. My genuine interest is to be able to help you long-term and make this process fun!
   • As a Quality Service Certified Realtor® , I guarantee my high level services to you in writing right up front.
   • If you have a home to sell this will be the time when we will look at marketing you current home to get it SOLD! We don't want to write an offer with a contingency on the sale of another home. Most Sellers are not open to this. Once your current home is under contract we can proceed to finding your new home
3. Finding The Right Home
   • Anyone can find you a home. But negotiating the contract and all of the numerous complex issues of a transaction are where our team and I provide a superior service and a enormous advantage to you.
   • We will start by creating a Buyer Profile for you and emailing corresponding listings to you every day. You will be getting new properties as soon as they come on the market! You will have a jump on the new inventory ahead of other buyers in the marketplace.
   • Your job will be to drive-by these listings to decide which areas you are most interested in and select the homes that you would like to tour.
   • We will set an appointment to tour about 6 homes at a time. I have a unique process that will allow you to eliminate down to one or two properties on any day. It's fun, it's easy and it reduces the stress of making choices. I will explain this further when we start to work together.
   • Keep in mind, there is NO PERFECT PROPERTY! But if you find a home that is about 85% of what you want or need - write an offer! This is about as good as it gets.
   • If we don't find the 85% property we will re-evaluate our criteria and begin the process again until the right one comes along.
4. The Offer
   • Once we find the right home and you are ready to make an offer, I will do a Market Analysis of the property to determine the price that you might want to offer.
   • I will also try to obtain any important information from the listing agent about the Seller's wants, needs, timing and any other questions that we might have about the property right up front.
   • I will advise you on writing an offer that will help you get the price, terms, timing and any other conditions that are important to you such as a Home Warranty.
   • I believe in using win-win negotiating to create a transaction that will come together and stay together!
5. Negotiation & Acceptance
   • I will negotiate the contract as if it were my own money on the table. As your Buyers Agent and trusted advisor I will represent YOUR best interests.
   • If the Sellers do not wish to accept your offer exactly as it is written, then they will write a counterproposal back to you. We will review and evaluate the offer and you will decide whether to accept or write a new offer back to them. This will continue until we can reach a written agreement. Then you will be UNDER CONTRACT!
6. You Are Under Contract
   • The Seller's agent will order the Title Commitment and my Closing Coordinator will begin taking care of all of the background contacts and follow-up.
   • Team and I will communicate with you daily about the status of your transaction. We'll let you know what we have done, what you need to do and what will happen next.
   • I will refer you to qualified inspectors and other professionals and you will inspect the home thoroughly. If there are items that we want the Seller to fix, we will submit a Notice to Correct and will negotiate these issues. If we cannot come to an agreement at this time, the contract may terminate.
   • Once we have an agreement on the Notice to Correct, your lender will order the appraisal and the ILC (Improvement Location Certificate). If there are no issues on these items and you have given the lender all documentation required, a Loan Commitment is issued and we are ready to close.
   • Documents and figures will be prepared by the lender and the title company for the closing.
   • I will assist you in getting your Homeowners Insurance in place. I will also help you get all of your utilities set up for the day of closing and arrange for movers if you need them.
7. Closing
   • We will get the closing figures and you will need to get a CASHIERS CHECK or WIRE FUNDS for any amount that you might need to bring to closing.
   • We will do a final walkthrough of the home just before closing to make sure that all items are in working order, all inspection items have been done, and the house is in a clean condition with nothing changed since the contract was written.
   • You will need to bring a photo ID or drivers license, your FUNDS if needed, and an original Power of Attorney if it is being used.
   • The average closing takes about an hour but can take longer.
   • You will be sitting with the me, the Closer, Sellers, Listing Agent, & possibly the lender. This is an exciting time. All papers will be signed and all funds dispersed.
8. Possession
   • You will usually take possession right after the closing unless we have made other agreements.