Thursday, June 23, 2016
Getting Started as a Home Buyer
The home buying experience is an exciting one, but there are a lot of logistics that have to be worked through before you purchase your new home.
The first step is getting a pre-approval letter. In this part of the process, you talk to a loan officer who can help you see what kind of mortgage you can afford and gives you a payment breakdown. If you have any questions in this area, I can help point you in the right direction.
Once you have the pre-approval letter, I will discuss your current wants and needs in order to set up an automated search through our local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. This is the best, most reliable source for searches, as other real estate search sites feed from the MLS database. This means that the information gets to the MLS first, and with an automated search, you will see properties as soon as they become available (as soon as the agent posts the listing to the MLS).
The next step is to see properties in person that you have chosen from your search. During this time, we will work through what you do and do not like about the properties you view. The process of narrowing down which property works best can actually be a lot of fun.
If needed, adjustments can be made to the search criteria. If not, we will continue to view property until you make an offer on the place that best fits your needs and wants.
Once your offer is accepted, it will move from the contract-to-close phase (the details of which are a topic for another time). For getting started, the steps are getting a pre-approval letter, viewing properties, narrowing down the search to what best fits your needs/wants, and getting a contract.
As a side note, a common misunderstanding is that there is a fee for a buyer's agent's service. There is not. A buyer does not pay his or her real estate agent any commission. All of the commissions come from the seller. At Gatewood Properties, we do not charge an administrative fee for any paperwork completed, so you can be confident that you will not be paying any realty fees as a buyer.
If you have any additional questions related to real estate, please let me know.
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