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This is a great question! Buying a home is a huge chapter in your life, whether it’s your first home, you’re building a new home, or you’re looking to up or downsize your living arrangements. When choosing your living decisions it’s very vital to ensure you have a support system by your side. Let’s discuss who you’ll want by your side and the steps to take toward buying a home.
Step 1: Obtain Mortgage Pre-Approval
You might think “Okay that’s great but what does that mean?” Being pre-approved is an important step that informs you on how much home you can afford and secure the financing to make the purchase. This helps you understand your financial condition and strengthens your purchasing power when making an offer and helps estimate your monthly payment. Being pre-approved ensures that when you find the perfect home you’ll be fully prepared to make a quick and strong offer without waiting to see if you’ll be financially able to secure this home.
Step 2: Find a Real Estate Agent You Enjoy Being Around
When finding an agent, you want to work with someone you know, like, and trust. I’d be happy to help you in the Greater Cincinnati Area, but if you’re looking to buy or sell in a different area, I have a lot of real estate connections and can share with you a great agent in another city or state! When it comes to picking an agent, their experience and expertise matter, however, their personality and how they mesh with you as a person matters even more! Give an agent a call, most of them will be more than happy to work with you!
Step 3: Discuss Neighborhoods, Home Needs, and Book Showings
Perhaps the most fun part of the journey to finding the perfect home is going inside and browsing homes on the market. This is why you need an agent to work with you. Your agent will help you make an offer, unlock the house to let you view the properties, and be your go-to person to discuss and guide you through securing your home. During this process, you can compare the qualities of homes =you like and dislike and find what you truly want in a home.
Step 4: Write An Offer and Negotiate Contract Terms
Don’t freak out! This seems scary but there is a lot to consider in your offer. The price, the closing date, the inspection period, and any contingencies, will the refrigerator stay? You name it. That’s why you have a real estate agent by your side to help you. As real estate agents, we discuss the terms of the contract with you and fill the paperwork out on your behalf, all you do is sign!
Step 5: Conduct Inspections
While you can always skip the home inspection, I do not recommend skipping it. This can either make or break your contract. The inspector you choose will usually review the home’s exterior elements such as the roof, siding, trim, and windows. But they also come inside and inspect the fixtures, appliances, and major systems like heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical. Once you’ve completed the inspection you can ask the seller to make necessary repairs and negotiate this. If you aren’t able to come to accepted terms then the contract may be terminated and you can begin searching for a different house that you’d be interested in placing an offer on. You can also get inspections done for your information only without having the seller conduct repairs. If you choose to skip inspections, then completely void this step.
Step 6: Appraisal and Title Search of the Home
If you are working with a lender and have a loan rather than offering cash, we will have to conduct an appraisal of the property. The appraisal tells you the value of the property to ensure what you are paying for it, is what it is worth. Who wants to completely overpay for a property? -Exactly, nobody does. Then on a separate matter, there will also be a title company making sure there are no liens on the property and making sure the title is clear. You most certainly don’t want to oversee paying someone else’s debts either, that’s why the title search is important!
Step 7: Final Walk Through and Closing
The final walk-through means you are almost a homeowner! During your final walk-through, you’ll double-check that all the items from the inspection that were agreed upon to fix have been completed. This is where you can also confirm that the property is in the agreed-upon condition and they didn’t make extreme alterations since going under contract. Then the final process is closing on the house and getting the keys to your property. You’ll sign your documents in usually about 30 minutes to an hour and then the home is yours!
Woo Hoo! I know that might seem like a lot, or maybe it’s simpler than you originally thought. Either way, if you have questions, I want to be the real estate agent that you know, like, and trust to do business with. I am available most hours of the day and every day of the week. I’m just a call or text away. Contact me to get started on your home-buying journey or let me know if you have any questions. My number is (513) 262-6598.
