BUY YOUR DREAM HOUSE WITH CONFIDENCE

So, you want to buy a house—now what? The first time buying a home is an emotional, exciting, and also exhausting experience. You may also be wondering along the way—what am I missing? This is a common question. Here’s how the buying process works from start to finish.

• Do some preliminary online searching. Check into what homes are selling for in the areas you’re interested in to give you an idea of what you’re looking for. This will help later on when communicating your wish list with your real estate agent.
• Take care of the budget. Use an online mortgage calculator to determine what your monthly mortgage payment would be if you were to purchase one of these homes you’ve found online. Make some additional estimates for utilities and see if this fits into your budget.
• Get pre-approved. To get pre-approved for a mortgage you’ll need to get some paperwork ready: pay stubs, W-2s, bank account statements, tax returns for the past two years, and credit lines, and names and addresses of your landlords for the past two years. We recommend reaching out to local mortgage brokers, who specialize in mortgages to ensure you get the best loan type to reach your goals. 
• Find an agent. Reach out today! Call/Text: 509-557-0747 Email: Gene@CramerRealEstateGroup.com
• Look at homes. Be patient at this stage. Your real estate agent may show you a variety of homes to get your reaction on features they think you’ll like. Give your agent detailed feedback so they can show you homes that are perfectly suited to you. Sometimes, this process can take weeks or months—So be patient. Also, make sure you let friends and family know you’re looking for a new home--you may even find out about an amazing home before it hits the market.
• Make an offer. Once you’ve found your dream home, you want to move quickly. Your agent will guide you on a reasonable first offer to start negotiations based on market conditions. Also, make sure you consider closing costs which can often times be negotiated in the offer.
• Negotiate. Prepare to go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. Your real estate agent will be your advocate here and try to get you, their client as much as possible for your money while being fair and respectful to the seller and their real estate agent.
• An accepted offer. When you reach an agreement, you’ll make a deposit to an escrow account to show good-faith. Escrow is usually 30-45 days where the seller takes the house off the market with the contractual expectation that you’ll purchase the house.
• Do a home inspection. Even if the home appears to be flawless, there’s no substitute for having a professional inspector review the property for quality, safety, and general condition of your potential home. You don’t want to be surprised with a home that needs a lot of unexpected repairs. If the inspection unsatisfactory, you can negotiate further to have the seller make repairs or discount the selling price. You’ll also have the option to withdraw your offer and get your earnest money back.
• Appraisal is Conducted. An independent 3rd party appraiser will be assigned by your lender to assess the value of your home. If the appraisal value comes in lower than the amount of the offer or repairs are required, you may negotiate the terms with the seller.
• Closing. When the inspection and appraisal are complete with any negotiated repairs and your loan has been deemed clear to close, you'll be ready to close. At your closing, you’ll sign paperwork and bring any funds necessary to close. Once recording has happened you will be handed the keys. Pop the champagne!