The Buying Process:

There are many steps to the process of buying a home from start to finish. I have put together this guide mostly for first time home buyers but as a reminder for those who have done this before as well. As with anything, there are no constants and many variables due to the fact that every transaction has different circumstances. This is simply a way to show the basics and I will be here to guide you as other issues come along.

The initial steps…

Most likely, if you are at this point of knowing you want to buy a home, you have some thoughts of where you want to buy, or at least a general idea. In our initial conversation/email correspondence, it would be helpful for you to tell me what you are looking for as far as the particulars: price range, square footage preference, bed and bath counts, age of home, neighborhoods or at least major intersection borders, and if there are any amenities that are important to you (i.e. backyard fenced for dog, no pool, corner lot, etc.) It is great to know what you want but also remember that the more you limit your search, the less there will be to choose from. I suggest people have those things in mind but still keep options open as I set up the search for them so they can see what is out there. There is always time to eliminate.

When I hear from you what you are looking for, I will set up an automatic search through the Oklahoma City multi-list system for you. It is wonderful because I can send you an initial search of everything that is out there. It will also send you a daily email, if there is anything new on the market or a price change in something existing in your search criteria. It is great way to keep you on top of market activity and hopefully avoid missing an opportunity to see something that perfectly fits your needs. I will have these emails sent to me as well so I can keep an eye on things. Remember, it is important for you to check these daily and let me know if something comes up that you would like me to set an appointment for us to see together. There are interior pictures usually posted on the MLS site and you can access them by clicking on the exterior picture of the house. It is the responsibility of the Listing Realtor to load pictures on the site and unfortunately, there are times that they do not do this. Please do not ignore that property for this reason. If it seems to be something you would like minus the fact that you do not know what the house looks like, it would be wise to drive by if you can or just add it to the list of homes to see when we go look. This happens some when it is a brand new listing and the Realtor has not had the time to take pictures. It is disappointing when someone misses out of a house they would have loved for this reason alone. It is important to remember if you are searching on your own in addition to what information I am providing you on availability of properties, to write down addresses of those properties and call or email me to look into them further on your behalf. It is important in real estate to select one Realtor to represent you and always turn to that person for all your real estate needs instead of calling a Realtor on a sign or off the internet. It will help your Realtor to better represent you.

Prior to us going out to look at homes, it is important to meet with a lender of your choice to get pre-qualified and establish a price range that you are comfortable with. They will talk to you over the phone for 10-15 minutes, establish your wants and needs and run your credit if you are willing so they can formally pre-qualify you and give you a letter for when you are ready to make an offer. This is important for so many reasons. People will go look at homes in a particular price range that ended up being more expensive than what they wanted to spend. They were disappointed when they had to select from lesser expensive homes. It is best to avoid the emotional roller coasters and to start the process as stress-free as possible. Getting pre-qualified also helps your position when it comes time to make an offer. Sellers will be more respectful of your offer if they know they have a qualified buyer. I have several lenders that I have had great experiences with over the years that I am happy to recommend. Just let me know if you would like those names and numbers. Of course, I always understand when people have their own personal bankers or referrals from friends and family and I am happy to work with whomever you have a relationship. One last point is to have the lender run what they call a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) which is a breakdown of all the costs you will have to pay to close the house. I will need a copy of that faxed to me so I am in the know of how to best negotiate for you.

When you are ready to go look at some of the homes you are being sent, schedule a time with me and I will call the other Realtors to set appointments and we will meet and look at those homes on the inside. I initially set appointments to last 15 minutes each to avoid spending too much time in homes you are not interested in. If there is a home you like, we can always go back for a second look and stay longer.

When you find something that you want to make an offer on, I will gather information regarding what homes have sold for in that area in the past 6 months so we know if the pricing is accurate. That will help in deciding what price to offer and formulating a strategy for negotiating. Once that is decided, we will write an offer. After it is written, I will present it to the other Realtor, who will then take it to the Seller and they will accept it, make a counter offer or reject it. It is important to remember that until all terms are negotiated and both the Buyer and Seller have accepted the terms by signing the contract, another Buyer could come into the middle and buy the house if they present terms the Seller wants to accept. It is a chance to take and sometimes it is important to make your best offer early if it is a house you really want to buy. Another important thing to remember, when we submit the offer, you will need to provide an earnest money check that will be cashed only if the offer is accepted. Usually in the $100K and less price bracket, this amount is $500. You should increase the earnest money as the sales price increases. It is not a definite number but there are customs where this issue is concerned. When an offer is accepted, this check will be cashed and held in a trust account by the Listing Realtor’s Real Estate Firm until closing. At closing, that check is given back to you as a credit toward your closing costs. There are circumstances where that money would not be returned to you and that would only happen in an occasion where you defaulted on the contract. There are exceptions to this; for example, if you are not able to obtain financing, if the house does not appraise for the purchase price, if something happened in the home inspections of great concern or if there were problems with the title work. Feel free to talk to me about this.

When an offer is accepted, I will give you an approved list of a general home and termite inspectors and I will discuss the qualifications of each inspector in order to assist you in selecting the most appropriate one for your new home. The costs for this are approximately $200-$350 for general home inspector and $100 for termite inspection. I also will send a copy of the contract to your lender and the title company. At this time, all those people will be working on their part of the transaction. I will work closely with the title company in getting all the paperwork together for the closing day when the home actually becomes yours. It is important that you work closely with your lender in getting all the necessary documentation to them early and I will keep in touch with them as well.

Regarding the inspection…this is a very important step in the process as well. The home inspector will come out for a couple of hours on a day preferably that you can be there and check to make sure all operating systems, windows, roof, drainage and foundation are in working order. They will write a report telling all that needs to be repaired with estimated repair costs. We will negotiate repair issues prior to closing with the Seller. I will explain this further.

One another thing that happens in this stage is the lender will order an appraisal to assess the property’s value. This is why it is important in the offering stage for us to pull comparative values so that the agreed price is consistent with the appraised value.

You will need to call your insurance agent (I can recommend some if you do not have one you want to use) and tell them you are buying a house and they will want to drive by and look at the roof. They need to do this within 10 days from the acceptance of the contract. If they don’t, you could be in a position to buy this house “as-is.” If the roof needs replacement, you may loose the opportunity to negotiate this. Please talk to me about this. You will need to get that name and number to me at least a week prior to closing so I can get that to the lender and title company. They need that information to close.

The day prior to closing, the lender will fax over what we refer to as closing instructions to the closer at the title company. They will then prepare everything for you to sign at closing. This is a lot of preparation and a large amount of paperwork and sometimes takes some time for the closer to get ready so the lender must be very timely. When the closer gets all the figures together, they will come up with a final number of what you need to bring to closing in the form of a cashier’s check made out to the title company. Either the lender or I will call you with this number so you can get the check for closing. This amount should be very close to the estimated amount that your lender gave you at the beginning in the form of a Good Faith Estimate.

An hour or so before closing, we schedule a final walk-through so that you can see the property right before you sign and take possession. This is the time that we check any repairs that the Seller might have completed after the inspection report was issued on your behalf as well as make sure that the home didn’t receive any substantial damage during the Seller’s move. We will go from the walk-through to closing. At closing, we will schedule a time slot of approximately an hour. The Seller will sign a small amount of paperwork and then you will sign a substantial amount of paperwork (due to all the loan papers.) When that is complete, the closer will make copies of everything and you will be handed keys, garage door openers, etc. and the house will be yours!

Please talk to me about anything in this process that you have questions about and understand that many of these things will become clear as we go through them step by step. I sincerely hope this gives every Buyer the overview that they need to have a basic knowledge of how this process works.

*All information deemed reliable but subject to further investigation by the reader.