Buyer’s Information

Buying a home is one of the most important activities anyone’s life.  Your home is were your memories will be created, you will entertain friends, possibly raise children, gather for family events and many other of the most joyous things in life.  In addition your home is likely to be your best financial investment of your life, providing you tax benefits, an investment that appreciates and that you get to live in!  For all of these reasons it is important to partner with a licensed broker you can trust.  Effie is just such a broker. 

Typical Steps in Buying a Home:

1.        Determine what you would like in your new home.  Examine your existing housing for qualities you would like have in your new home, things to improve as well as new things you would like.  New Home Criteria Checklist

2.        Contact a financial institution to determine the your mortgage qualifications.  Everyone selling a home generally requires that the potential buyer be financially qualified prior to going to view home.  While you are talking with the bank, mortgage broker, or other financial institution ask for a “qualification letter.”  This letter will verify that you are able to procure a mortgage up to a certain amount of money.  Select your mortgage provider carefully.  Poor providers often decide a day or two prior to your “closing” or exchanging papers for the home that they will not approve the loan.  Stick to high quality mortgage providers.  Some High Quality Mortgage Providers

3.        Next you should meet with Effie, either by phone or in person.  At this point Effie will help you refine your new home criteria, by taking into account her experience and the current market trends as well as town and neighborhood information with which you may not be familiar.  Town and Neighborhood Information

4.        Find a home you are interested in buying.  This is the step most people think of when they think of buying a house.  It will probably take a lot of time and has several sub-steps you will typically repeat until the right home for you is found. 

    1. Effie will search for homes meeting your criteria and e-mail, fax or mail you “listing sheets”.  Listing sheets are one-page descriptions of a house that is for sale.  The sheet typically consists of things like a picture of the front of the house, asking price, address, number and size of rooms/bathrooms/bedrooms, size of lot, tax rate, school systems, etc.  Sample Listing Sheet
    2. You will review the listing sheets.  You will be able to determine from the sheets that some homes you are not interested in and you might possibly update your new home criteria.  Others you will want to learn more about.  Effie will answer your specific questions and work with the selling broker to get more detail.  Some of the homes you want to see.  Very often a drive by the house is all it will take for you to determine that it is not right for you.  The pictures are often the most favorable view – a drive past the house will tell you volumes more than the picture.  If you are still interested in the home Effie will setup a viewing appointment, so that you can visit the home. 
    3. Go to home showing.  In this step you and Effie will visit the perspective property.  You should take along your new home criteria and a pen to take notes.  Your notes will serve to help you remember details of the home as well as questions you might have about the property.  Of course, Effie will be doing the same and pointing out things buyers sometimes overlook.  After the viewing you might have more questions, which again Effie will answer and work with the selling broker to answer. 
  1. Draw up an offer.  At this point you have a house you would like to buy.  You and Effie will draw up a standard contract called a Purchase and Sales Agreement.  In this agreement many standard things will be stated as well as your desire to buy the home, an offering price, a date on which you would like to “close” (sign the paperwork and take ownership of the property), your signature, as well as conditions of the purchase.  Typical conditions would include final approval of a mortgage, professional inspections of the property, a good until date, etc.  After the P&S is draw up you will submit with it a fully refundable, good faith deposit on the property.  This deposit it required to bind the contract and will be fully refunded if you do not come to financial terms with the seller or if any of your conditions in the contract are not met.  The sellers real estate agent will hold the deposit in an Escrow account for safe keeping and easy access for a potential refund or to apply to the purchase price at closing.  Standard Purchase and Sales Agreement
  2. Effie will present the offer.  At which point the seller will accept the offer, make a counter offer or reject the offer.  In the event they counter or reject the offer you might make another offer, accept the counter offer, or continue your search for another more suitable home.  In the event you come to terms the P&S Agreement will be updated by Effie, you will be asked to sign the updated agreement and the buyer will also sign.  At this point you have a fully executed contract.  Typically the next four to six weeks will be the final phase of your purchase.  Many interrelated, depended steps have to be executed and Effie will oversee the execution of these detailed and essential steps. 
  3. Apply for the mortgage.  Typically the first thing you will want to do is apply for the mortgage.  Go back to the financial institution that issued you your qualification letter and apply for a mortgage.  The mortgage company will want a copy of your P&S Agreement which Effie will send to them.  For many of the details they will deal directly with Effie, all the while Effie will keep you involved in and regularly updated.  That said your financial information and mortgage information is entirely handled by the financial institution of your choosing and Effie will not know your personal financial data.  For that you will have to deal directly with the mortgage company and they legally will not reveal this information to any outside party, including Effie. 
  4. Effie will arrange for the home inspection.  Often a mortgage company will require a home inspection.  If not you may choose to have one done.  This inspection will check the house structurally: electrical, plumbing, roof, siding, basement, windows, etc.  In addition you might have a pest inspection done, this will verify the house is free of termites, wood eating beetles and other critters.  You may also choose to have other tests and inspections done depending on the age, type, location and other attributes of the home. 
  5. Potential adjustments due to inspection results.  Occasionally, after completion of the inspections your mortgage company or you with Effie’s assistance might wish to make additional requests of the seller.  A price adjustment or various repairs are typically the nature of any adjustment requests.  The seller may accept, deny or negotiate.  If they do not accept you have the right to withdraw your P&S Agreement and receive a refund of your receipt.  At which point Effie will resume the search for your new home.  In the unusual case that adjustments are made these small changes are almost always negotiated out. 
  6. Purchase home insurance.  A homeowner’s insurance ‘binder’ (the insurance company knows what one is) will have to be received from an insurance company prior to closing.  You should check your existing insurance company as well as others known for their excellent homeowners insurance offerings and policies.  Selection of Great Insurance Companies
  7. Get a certified check for your closing.  Usually a day or few prior to your closing a legally required, standard HUD (Federal department of Housing and Urban Development) document will be made available by the mortgage company so that you know exactly how much you must bring to the closing and how much they will bring for the mortgage part of the payment.  Your costs will include mortgage points, down payment and closing costs, minus your initial deposit.  You will have to get a certified funds for the closing, either a bank check, cashiers check, etc. 
  8. Finally – your closing!  On this special day you, Effie, the seller, the sellers agent, a representative from the mortgage company and possibly others will sit down with many documents and even more pages that will have to be signed by you, the seller and the notary.  You will guide through each of the documents and sign as the closing proceeds.  At the end checks will be exchanged and you will get the keys to your new home.