Step 1
Financing Approval
Before you start looking at homes, you should sit down with a Mortgage Lender. Determining how much you can afford to purchase, will make your home search smoother and and help you establish a budget. The Mortgage Lender can answer all your questions about the loan process, costs and identify a suitable price range and loan type for your home search.
The Lender has 2 levels of endorsement during this early stage of the loan process: Pre-Qualified and Pre-Approved. Pre-Qualified means you have had a conversation with the lender in regards to your income and debts. Pre-Approval means the lender has actually run a credit report and looked at you finance statements. We recommend getting a Pre-Approval Letter because you will need a letter from your Mortgage Lender when submitting an offer on the home you want to purchase. This will show you have made contact with a lender and that you are qualified to purchase the home you’re making an offer on.
Step 2
Home Search
Now that you know how much you can afford in a home, you can start looking for your new home. There is a lot of new technology available to the public when searching for a home. From phone app’s to different web sites that will arm buyers with a lot of information today before they even step inside a home. With all that information at your finger tips you need to work with one Realtor more than ever to help you sort out all that information and keep you directed to your ultimate goal of finding the right home.
Share a wish list of things you want in your new home with us so we can customize a search on Multiple Listing Service (the private site for Realtors where all the listings of homes are located) for you. We will put you on a auto-email system so you can receive emails when new homes your looking for come on the market. MLS will also keep you updated on price changes and when homes sell and come back on the market.
Some Basic Rules to follow when working with a Realtor:
- It is our job to show you homes. Realtors work on 100% Commission which means we work pro bono (only get paid when we sell you something). Every time you walk into an open house or call for an appointment to see a home with another Real Estate agent, you the Buyer, become the customer of that agent who showed or gave you the information on that home regardless of who your working with or if you signed a Buyer's Agent Agreement. Please be careful not to sign more than one Buyer agency Agreement.
- If you are in front of an Open House or a house that you really need some information right away - you should do the following:
- First call or text the Realtor you are working with
- If you see a barcode on a yard sign and it asks you to scan your phone for more information and pictures, you are also texting the Listing Agent your mobile phone number so they can call you directly and claim you as their customer. So be careful when you see those type of signs.
- If you have a smart phone - download the following smart phone app’s:
- www.realtor.com
- www.trulia.com
- www.zillow.com
The above phone app’s will give you all the information, pictures and any other information you are looking for with out having to talk to any one. If the info you are looking for is not on there, than call, text or email your agent with the information and it can pulled it up for you.
This protects you from being hassled by every Realtor you make contact with and allows me your Realtor to work in your best interest. Always remember all the Realtors have access to all of the same information.
