Home Buying Timeline

Step 1

Get Pre-Approved

Getting pre-approved helps with the following:

1. Helps you know your spending limits.

2. Proves to the sellers you can back up your offer.

3. Builds a working relationship with your loan officer.

Step 2

Start Shopping

Let the fun begin! This is the time when you get to tour as many homes as needed to find one you like.

Step 3

Offer and Acceptance

Prepare to learn how to negotiate real estate! Don't worry, I got you. You'll be advised on the best courses of action on all given situations so you can make the best offer. Remember, there will always be another home. Don't get sucked into making a bad deal over a house you "love."

Step 5

Due Diligence

Now that your offer is accepted, you get to decide whether or not you actually want the home. The seller will disclose all information about the property (problems) relative to the sale. You also can hire a professional inspector to make sure the home is in acceptable condition. If you're not happy with the state of the home, you can renegotiate, or drop out of the deal.

Step 6

Appraisal

Since your lender won't want to lend more money than what the home is actually worth, they'll send an appraiser out to assess the value of the home. If the home is worth less than what you're paying, the lender will expect you to renegotiate, or cover the difference with your own cash. If neither of these are options, you can back out of the deal.

Step 4

Earnest Money Deposit

Once your offer is accepted, you'll write a check for your earnest money deposit. Some important things to know about earnest money are:

1. It's usually 1% of the purchase price, rounded to the nearest 1K ($3k earnest money on a $320k home).

2. It counts toward your down payment.

3. You can negotiate to have it returned to you if you back out of the deal.

4. It's held in my brokerages trust account until the deal is done.

Step 7

Settlement

Settlement is when you sit down and physically sign the final documents to finalize the deal.

Closing

Step 8

After signing the final documents and wire your money, we then wait for your loan to fund and for the transaction to be recorded at the county recorder's office. these things usually happen within 5 hours after you sign the final documents. If you sign later in the day, funding and recording will likely happen the following business day. Once things are funded and recorded, you get the keys and the home is yours!