Welcome to our Home Buying Roadmap! Click on the links below to learn more about the steps involved in buying a home. We hope you find this information both informative and useful in your search for your new home.

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Owning your own home is part of the American dream. Whether this is your first purchase or time to trade to a different home that better meets your needs, this decision deserves careful consideration.

Why Do You Want To Buy A Home? Are you tired of paying rent? Have you outgrown your current home – do you need more bedrooms or a home office? Would you like a larger yard, or are you tired of yard work? Would you rather live in a different neighborhood? Do you want to be closer to work, school, recreation, or family? Having a good idea of your reasons will help you choose the home that best “fits” your needs.

Has Your Income Grown? Take advantage of your new good fortune – Historically, home ownership has been a very good investment. Also, home ownership can provide a means of “forced savings”: every month, part of a fully-amortized mortgage is applied toward paying down the principal part of your loan, thus building your equity over time in addition to any market appreciation in your area.

Getting Organized

Now that you’ve decided to buy real estate, you may be getting excited about looking at properties. But before you go shopping, we highly recommend that you do some additional homework to help avoid disappointment and frustration later.

Start a Green File: A Green File should contain all of your important financial documents. Start by making copies of all your financial statements; bank accounts, investments, credit cards, auto loans, recent pay stubs and two years’ tax returns. If you haven’t already, start saving a down payment and extra funds for incidental home buying and closing costs (i.e., inspections, appraisals, title insurance, etc).

Check Your Credit Rating: Credit scores range between 400 and 800. 620 + is considered “good”. 680 + is considered “premium” and may possibly help get you a lower interest rate.

Below you will find the contact information for the 3 major credit reporting agencies to help you determine your credit rating. Ask your lender how to improve your credit score if you need to. Going forward, treat your credit like gold.

Get Pre-Approved By A Lender: There are two key benefits to getting pre-approved. First, you will know how much house you can afford. Second, when you find a property you want to buy, your offer will be better positioned than someone less prepared. Your lender may want to know some of the following information:

Find An Agent

An Important Decision: While it is possible to find and buy a home without an agent, this is one of the largest purchases and most important decisions you will ever make. A home may account for a third of your monthly spending and a large part of your assets. The home purchase transaction will require making many important financial decisions, understanding complex issues and completing a lot of paperwork. So it is not only comforting but extremely efficient to have an expert help you cut through all the red tape.

Buyers & Buyer’s Agents: Buyers’ agents specialize in helping buyers! Buyers’ agents listen to what you want and then help you find your ideal home. We can notify you the instant that a home, meeting your requirements, comes on the market and we will make the appointment to get you in at the soonest possible moment. No more leaving voice-mails for agents who don’t bother to call you back. No more waiting for a Sunday Open House to see a home. No more calling on a newspaper ad only to discover that someone already put in an offer.

Your Own Personal Expert: Think of a buyers’ agent as your expert advocate. We will share our experience, represent your best interests during negotiations with sellers, and help you understand all the decisions you need to make. We will work tirelessly for you, and our goal is to make your transaction go as smoothly as possible.

How to select the right agent:

• Interview a few agents: Are they familiar with the neighborhood you want to live in?
• Find an agent who is tech-savvy: today’s transactions move at internet speed.
• Ask about their credentials and education: A good agent will continually strive to improve and gain knowledge of the latest real estate trends.
• Does the agent return your calls promptly? Time is money when attempting to buy a home.
• Ask for a list of homes they’ve sold or a list of references.
• Finally, a good agent will spend more time listening to you and asking you questions about what you want, rather than talking about themselves. Pick an agent with whom you feel comfortable.

Click here to find contact one of our experienced agents!

Shop for a Home

Time to Go Shopping: Now that you’ve done your homework, it's time to go shopping. Your checklist of the reasons why you want to buy a home will keep you focused on homes that will meet your needs. Your lender’s pre-approval letter will keep you focused on homes you can afford.

Getting to Know the Neighborhoods: You may want to drive by a number of homes to become familiar with the neighborhoods and what your money will buy. We can take you on a guided tour of homes in several areas. This gives us a chance to really understand what you like and don’t like. Or, if you’re the adventurous sort and already know the areas well, we can give you a list of suitable homes to drive by along with a map.

Selecting Homes & Making Appointments: Select the top few homes and have your real estate agent make appointments to go inside. We look at hundreds of homes each year, so we can help you weigh the features and strengths, as well as point out the drawbacks or weaknesses of each home. Typically we can provide you with a printed fact sheet for each home, including pictures; this will help you keep track of the homes you’ve seen, what you liked and didn’t like. We’re happy to be your sounding board to compare and contrast your favorite homes to help you decided which home is right for you. We can also offer an opinion as to potential long term re-sale value, based on neighborhood trends. We consider ourselves counselors or investigators more than salespeople. We make our clients aware of all the positive and negative factors regarding a property or investment and if you are still interested, then we've served you well.

Escrows, Inspections, and Appraisals

Title Company and Escrow Holder: We can help you select a title company and escrow holder (often the same company), whose job it is to act as a neutral third party which holds all instruments necessary to the sale, including funds and deed with instructions as to their use. The title company will research the complete recorded history of this property, to insure that the title is free and clear of encumbrances by the date of closing and that all new encumbrances are properly added to the title. You will receive a “preliminary report” that will show current encumbrances and easements. For example, some properties are subject to CC&Rs (covenants, conditions and restrictions) which may limit various activities from building to parking restrictions. There may be recorded easements and encroachments, where others have limited rights to use your property. We will always explain the title report to you in detail.

How to Hold Title: How will you own the property? By yourself, or with someone else? There are at least half a dozen ways to own property, each with its own legal, estate, and tax implications, particularly with respect to selling or transferring, or disposition upon death. It advisable to consult with an attorney or your tax advisor to be sure you select the best way to hold title.

Inspections: Once your offer is accepted by the seller, we will recommend professional inspectors to evaluate your home’s major systems. We will even set the appointments for you. Plan on attending all of your inspections with your agent and feel free to ask any question that comes to mind of either the inspector or your agent. During these inspections, you can learn a lot about how your new home functions as well as anything that may be wrong with it. Your agent may recommend other inspections, including but not limited to roof, chimney/fireplace, property boundary survey, well, septic, pool/spa, arborist or mold. Knowledge is gold.

Appraisal and the Loan Process: Keep in close communication with your lender, who will let you know when additional documents are needed to approve your loan application and fund your loan. The lender will often send an appraiser out to the property and you may pay a fee for this service. Appraisers are specialists in evaluating properties, based on a combination of square footage measurements, building costs, and recent sales of comparable properties, all to make sure you are not paying too much for the property. Ask for a copy of your appraisal. When you are within two weeks of closing, double check with your lender to be sure the loan will go through smoothly and on time.   Also, watch out for some of the mistakes others make.

Things to avoid before buying a home:

Many new homebuyers make the mistake of rushing out to buy things to fill their home with as soon as the seller accepts their purchase offer and the lender pre-approves their loan. But there are still a few major hurdles to overcome before the keys are handed out. Here are some things to avoid during the home buying process to assure your transaction goes as smoothly as possible: 

• Don't make an expensive purchase. It may be tempting to order that new sofa for your soon-to-be living room, but its best to avoid making major purchases like furniture, cars, appliances, electronic equipment, jewelry, or vacations until after the closing. Financing that furniture with a store credit card or even one of your own credit cards could jeopardize your credit worthiness during the time it means the most. Using cash to purchase big items can also create a problem because many banks take into consideration your cash reserve when approving your mortgage.

• Don't get a new job. Lenders like to see a consistent job history. Generally, changing jobs will not affect your ability to qualify for a mortgage loan - especially if you are going to be making more money. But for some people, getting a new job during the loan approval process could raise some concern and affect your application.

• Don't switch banks or move money around. As your lender reviews your loan package, you will likely be asked to provide bank statements for the last two or three months on your checking accounts, savings accounts, money market funds and other liquid assets. To eliminate potential fraud, most loans require a thorough paper trail to document the source of all funds. Changing banks or transferring money to another account - even if its just to consolidate funds - could make it difficult for the lender to document your funds.

• Don't give a good faith deposit directly to the seller in a FSBO purchase. As a rule, your good faith deposit belongs to you, not to the seller, until the deal closes. Your FSBO (For Sale By Owner) seller may not know that your good faith funds should be applied to your expenses at closing. Get an attorney or other neutral party who can hold the deposit or put it in a trust account until you close on the home. Your purchase contract should dictate to whom the funds go should the transaction fall through.

• Don't disregard your lenders requirements. You may have been pre-approved for the loan but your work with the lender is far from over. In order to process your loan, you need to meet certain requirements. Your lender will need copies of your bank statements, W2s and other paperwork. It is up to you to get it to him or her as soon as possible. Failure to submit certain qualifying documents could cause you to lose your loan and the financing you need to buy your home.

Close the Deal!

Final Walk-Through Inspection: A few days before you take possession of the property, we will visit the property together one last time. This final visit ensures that the property’s condition meets your expectations compared to its condition when you made your offer. We will have a checklist for you to note any last minute details for the seller to attend to.

Home Services and Utilities: You will need to change the services and utilities into your name: We can provide you with a list of phone numbers to call the local utilities and services providers, to put everything under your name as of the date escrow will close.