The Mark Gunning Team: Steps to Buying a Home Successfully

As you start on your exciting journey of buying a home, you will most likely have to deal with one or two unforeseen factors.

In a previous article, we talked about how to find an excellent real estate agent and why you should consider using a team versus just a single agent.

Even if you are the seller paying the real estate commissions, it won’t cost you a cent more to have 3 to 5 people, like The Mark Gunning Team, watching out for your interests versus one single agent.

With that being said, here is a simple step by step road map to help you plan ahead for when you are ready to buy your home.

Step 1 & 2. Getting loan pre-approval and determining how much home you can afford.

I have lumped steps 1 & 2 together because they are all about determining how much home you can afford and getting preapproved for your mortgage through a lender.

Most good agents can recommend a good mortgage broker/banker that will help you get preapproved and ready to go out and look for that new home.

Typically you can find a better deal through a mortgage broker versus a standard bank because they have access to a pool of lenders who will vie against each other to be able to do your loan, but this is totally up to you.

Step 3. Start your home buying research early.

It is pretty easy to find homes for sale on the internet these days. There are many different websites you can visit.

In the early stages of your online research, you might want to focus on learning more about neighborhoods, schools, shopping and subdivisions and not worry about the exact homes that are for sale.

Make note of the average home selling prices and after a while you’ll be able to whittle down your search to a few areas that you like and can afford to live in.

Note: When you are ready to go out and look for homes that are for sale, the best results online will be from an agent’s website that is providing live MLS searches.

Typically out here in the Phoenix area, you have to give up your name and email address after the 2^nd search if you want to keep the live access.

You will find that having full access to the Phoenix MLS will allow you to search to your heart’s content and also save your favorite searches, & even set up alerts for new homes that just went onto the market.

Hopefully by this time you have also begun researching agents and are narrowing that down to 2 or 3 that you can interview on the phone before making a final decision.

Step 4. Go out find a home and make an offer.

Now the fun begins.

Search hard every morning and go out and look at homes in the afternoon with your real estate agent!

Or whatever your schedule allows…

You can set up email alerts for new homes going on the market in your desired area and in your price range. This works well if you are in a crazy, seller’s market and homes are gobbled up quickly by other buyers.

When you find a home you want to make an offer on, walk through it thoroughly checking faucets and plumbing. Check light switches, etc.

It is advisable to take a lot of pictures too. Not only is it fun for you to share the photos with friends and family, you now have a permanent record of what is in the house just in case something is “changed out.”

Take as much time as you need to find the right home.

Then work with your real estate agent to negotiate a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes in the same neighborhood.

Once you and the seller have reached agreement on a price, the house will go into escrow, which is the period of time it takes to complete all of the remaining steps in the home buying process.

Step 5. Get a home inspection!

Typically after your offer is accepted you have a 10 day inspection period which allows you to bring in your home inspector and make sure there isn’t any structural or hidden major damage that will bring costly repairs in the future.

You will send the final inspection report to the seller and then decide if you want any repairs done by the seller.

This is also the time when you make your final decision whether to close on the home or walk away and continue your search.

FYI: Typically at the expiration of your 10 day inspection period your earnest money become non-refundable but this is all negotiable between you and the seller.

Step 6. Time to select your loan and have the home appraised.

Lenders have a wide variety of loans available and most likely you will already know what type of loan will work best for you by this point in time.

As soon as you give the word, your lender will order the appraisal of the home.

Step 7. Finalize all of the paperwork.

As the buyer, you get to choose the title company. They will handle all of the paperwork.

Now is the time when having an entire real estate team can really help get the deal closed, as with all of the moving parts it is easy to forget something.