Have you ever wondered how to buy a house?

Purchasing a home can seem like hard work but Vincent Patrick Realty is here to help. Here are the steps to buying a home.

Find an agent you can trust.

Vincent Patrick Realty has a team of caring, loyal, confident agents that will fight for the home you want! You can find one of our team’s agents here. 

Create a plan.

To help you buy a house, one of our agents will work with you to create a plan to buy a house that’s right for you. What kind of houses are you looking for? When you will be ready to move? How soon do you want to purchase a home? Will you be paying in cash or applying for a loan? How will you finance this purchase? Our agents job is to make sure you are well informed and have the knowledge to make the decision best for you. They will guide you through every step of buying a home. 

Get Pre Approved.

If you’re not paying cash to buy a house, you need a pre approval to know what kind of loans you are eligible for. This is how your dream home will be financed. To be approved for a loan you will need; Bank statements, pay stubs, last two years of taxes. Looking to buy a fixer upper home? You’ll need a higher credit score.

Time to start looking!

You can do independent research as well as communicate with your agent what kind of home you’re interested in purchasing. Your agent is a showing specialist! See a home you love? Text, email, call your showing specialist for more information and to get you in for a showing!

Let’s talk money.

See a house you want to buy? Money talks; Earnest money, inspection costs, appraisal fees, and closing costs. 

a.) Earnest Money;  “Good Faith Money”  This is an amount you put down that says I am serious about buying your house.  Estimated at 1-2% of purchase price.

b.) Inspection Costs:  If you opt in for inspections and hire inspectors Estimated fees are:  

• General $350
• Septic $225
• Well $225

You can put in contract that you do not want inspections if you feel it is the write choice for your purchase.

c.) Appraisal Fees:  The lender may ask you to pay for the appraisal which is usually around $500.  You will need within the first few days of getting our offer accepted. The appraisal fee can be put on a credit card.

d.) Closing Costs:  Ask your lender what you will need to come out of pocket at closing.

Want to buy a house? Time to make an offer!

Let’s talk about a Purchase Agreement. A purchase agreement is a legal document that outlines the terms of the sale between the seller and the buyer. When buying a house your agent will write up an offer and submit it to the Seller.  If the seller signs, they must sell it to you at the terms on the Purchase Agreement.

What makes up a Purchase Agreement?
Sale Price: this number is agreed upon by both parties.

Earnest Money: “Good Faith Money” At the end of the transaction it will go toward your purchase price.  For example:  If you are buying a house for $100,000 and put down $1,000 in earnest money.  You will owe $99,000.  (a disclosure should go here that there will be other closing costs!)  Video: What is Earnest money

Inspection Period  This is a period of time where the buyer can check out the property for any unseen issues.  The buyer may hire an inspector which is usually around $350 to look over the property and note everything that may need repaired.  You should get a very detailed report about the house you want to buy.  Or you may have a specialist in construction, electricity, roofing, or any other field go look at the house you want to buy for you.  

Inspection period is usually 3-7 days.  It can be more or less.  After the inspections are finished, the buyer decides: 1.) To proceed with  buying the house. 2.) To ask the seller to fix some things they were not aware of or escrow money so the buyer can have it fixed. 3.) To ask the seller to decrease the price of the home so you will have money to take care of these issues. 4.) To not buy the house. Video: What are Inspections?

Home Warranty:  Insurance on if one of your systems in the house would break.  Generally you can pay for it or ask the seller to pay for it.  It is about $400-500.  Asking the seller to pay for it deducts from the total they will be getting from the sale.  It can be good in some situations.  Research the company and read reviews to make the descion if a home warranty is right for you. 

Appraisal  This will protect the buyer in case the final sale price is above the appraised value.  If the price is too high, then the buyer can back out of the contract and have his or her earnest money refunded.  The seller may be able to lower the sale price of the home to match the appraisal, or the buyer can continue with the purchase regardless of the discrepancy.  Video: What happens during the appraisal

Closing Date: This is the final date for all documents to clear through the lender and title company.  This will be determined by the lender in the beginning of the sale.  The lender will let us know how much time he needs.  Hopefully only 30 days!  Cash deals can close in 2 weeks.  

The seller accepted your offer!

Hooray! You are one step closer to buying your house! Now what?

Arrange for Inspections if needed.  

Sign up for financing Line 30 of the Purchase Contract states how many days you have after the accepted offer to sign up for your loan with the lender. 

Title Company  The title company will be reaching out to you to gather your information.  Your agent will help you if you have questions regarding paperwork.

Post Inspections Decide after inspections how you want to go ahead with the sale. Your agent will write up a Release of Inspection Contingency Form form the buyer and seller need to sign.

Pay the lender for Appraisal  The lender will order appraisal.  The appraiser generally comes out in 1 week.  

More Docs to Lender The lender will ask you for your most current pay stubs and bank statements. 

Clear to Close The lender will send out the clear to close 3 days before closing can take place.

Sign Papers The title company will contact you to arrange a time to meet up to sign papers.  The title company then takes the deed to the County Recorder’s  office to be recorded.  If you arrange to sign early in the morning, the deed usually gets recorded the same day.  

Transfer Utilities into your name!

Get Your Keys!  Arrange with your agent to get the keys!

This process is a long process! But VP Realty Agents ensure you have the best journey possible buying the house you want! Schedule your buying consultation today!