The home-buying process...the not so abbreviated version.

I have a client who wants to buy a house. He took my advice and did his homework first. He got his pre-approval done and was set to buy a house. He went on to my website, http://www.wilkesbarrehomesales.com/, and looked at some of the homes I sent him to check out. He even picked a few of his own to see and gave me the list to make the appointments. It was when he got into town and we had a chance to sit down and talk that I realized he didn't have a strong grasp on the whole process, so he asked me to put it all into an e-mail for him so he could review it when he needed a refresher on what was going on. I thought to myself, "Boy, if I had to do this with every client...". Then I realized that there are probably a whole lot more people out there who don't understand the whole process. And so, I wrote his e-mail....

Dear Client,

Thanks again for choosing me to be your Realtor. Buying a new home is a process that doesn't necessarily have to be complicated or tiring. I actually enjoy the process very much, some parts more than others, but I love the whole process. Good thing I'm a Realtor, huh?

The pre-process stuff you've already taken care of. You have your pre-approval letter from the mortgage institution and have decided where it is you'd like to live. You know what kind of house you are looking for, you've gone through the list of homes I sent you and all that's left is to find the right house for you. This part is the most fun for me and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun as well.

Once we find a house for you, we'll need to write an offer. In Wilkes-Barre, PA we'll use the Standard Agreement for Sale to write the offer. I'll help you to come up with an appropriate offering price and terms for your house by doing a CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) for the house. This CMA will let us know if the price is a good one and will help give you a guideline for setting your offering price. The offer becomes the contract and is "executed" when it's signed by both buyer and seller, so we'll make sure to put all of the important details and dates in when we make the offer. Remember that "time is of the essence", meaning that we need to adhere to the dates we set forth in this contract. Don't worry, my job as the Realtor is to make sure deadlines are met and I have an excellent track record at making things happen when they should. In the offer, we'll decide what inspections we need to have and when we'll have them done.

The inspections that are most common are the structural, the pests and the Radon gas inspections. The cost for these inspections is generally between $350 and $470. You'll most likely need to pay for these when they happen and are a part of the closing costs for the house. Keep the receipts because this is a tax deductible cost! In PA, you have 15 days from the date the contract is executed to have the inspections done, the negotiations agreed upon and any addendums signed or you will be obligated to buy the house in it's current state. This is an extremely important part of the process and once again, I'll be here to help you through it.

You will need to make a formal application for the mortgage within about 10 days of getting the contract executed. I'll make sure to get the contract over to your mortgage company for processing as soon as it's executed. You'll need to make your formal application and provide them with the information and forms they need as quickly as possible. You'd be surprised at how many times the process is held up by one piece of paper. Deals have even fallen apart because the buyer didn't get the information over to the mortgage company in time. Again, I'll be here to help where I can.

You also need to decide who will be doing your closing. This is usually a lawyer or a closing company. This will also be the person or company to do your title search. Once they have the file ready, we will be able to close. Usually the day before closing they'll send us a HUD1 form. This will show how the money is broken down and how much you'll need to bring to closing. I'll go over this with you in detail before we get to closing so we can be sure to have any mistakes corrected before we sit down at the closing table. We're almost there!!! You also need to get some home-owner's insurance before the loan will be finalized. You'll pay for the first year up front, again this is part of your closing costs, and then you'll most likely pay this as a part of the payment you send to the mortgage company each month.

The last thing we'll do before closing is a final walk-through. This is the last opportunity to be sure that the house is in acceptable condition before we get to closing. If something still needs to be done, we'll ask for the seller to put some money in escrow to cover the costs of whatever needs to be completed. Once this is complete, the only thing left to do is go to closing. You might want to rest your writing hand for closing day. LOL There are a lot of forms to sign. I'll be there with you, in case you have any questions.

Well, that's the not so abbreviated version of the closing process. This letter will take more time to read than it'll seem like it took before we closed your house. I can't wait to see you there, new keys in hand, in your new home. Don't forget to change over the utilities into your name. This is a step that's missed very often. You'll need the lights on when you move, right?

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns along the way. My goal is to do the best job possible for you so you feel comfortable sending me a referral or two...or three...or four.

Sincerely,

Andrew Trevino
Realtor, Realty World, Rubbico Real Estate