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The first time buying a home is an emotional, exciting, and exhausting experience. Here’s how the buying process works from start to finish.
- Do some preliminary online searching. Check into what homes are selling for in the areas you’re interested in to give you an idea of what you’re looking for. This will help later on when communicating your wish list with your real estate agent.
- Take care of the budget. Use an online mortgage calculator to determine what your monthly mortgage payment would be if you were to purchase one of these homes you’ve found online. Make some additional estimates for utilities and see if this fits into your budget.
- Get pre-approved. To get pre-approved for a mortgage you’ll need to get some paperwork ready: pay stubs, W-2s, bank account statements and tax returns for the past two years. Start with your current bank, but make sure you check out competitor banks as well – you might get a better mortgage loan rate by shopping around. Look for first time home buyer programs in Baltimore
- Look at homes. Be patient at this stage. Your real estate agent may show you a variety of homes to get your reaction on features they think you’ll like. Give your agent detailed feedback so they can show you homes that are perfectly suited to you. Sometimes, this process can take months or years—So be patient. Also, make sure you let friends and family know you’re looking for a new home--you may even find out about an amazing home before it hits the market.
- Make an offer. Once you’ve found your dream home, you may want to move quickly. Your agent will guide you on a reasonable first offer to start negotiations based on market conditions. Also, make sure you consider closing costs which could account for 2-5% of the home price.
- Negotiate. Prepare to go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. Your real estate agent will be your advocate here and try to get you, their client as much as possible for your money while being fair and respectful to the seller and their real estate agent.
- An accepted offer. Pop the champagne! If you reach an agreement, you’ll make a deposit to an escrow account to show good-faith. Escrow is usually 30 days where the seller takes the house off the market with the contractual expectation that you’ll purchase the house - provided you don’t find any serious problems during the inspection.
- Do a home inspection. Even if the home appears to be flawless, there’s no substitute for having a professional inspector review the property for quality, safety, and general condition of your potential home. You don’t want to be surprised with a home that needs a lot of unexpected repairs. If the inspection reveals undisclosed serious defects, you can negotiate further to have the seller make repairs or discount the selling price. You’ll also likely have the option to withdraw your offer and get your deposit money back.
- Choose a Title company. I recommend Terrain Title. The cost for this is part of your Closing Costs and have been estimated in your Loan Estimate Sheet from your mortgage lender. https://www.terraintitle.com/faqs/.
- ➡️What is the role of a title company? ✅Answer: The title company's primary task is to provide title insurance to the borrower and any lender involved in financing the transaction. The title company also handles the real estate settlement or closing to make certain that the documents necessary to convey clear title have been properly executed and filed, and that all previous interests in the property have been properly transferred and/or disposed.
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Loan Financing. Now that you’ve made an offer, the waiting starts. Your loan financing will need to be secured and officially approved by the mortgage lender. This means that you’ll need to turn in, if you haven’t already, paperwork showing income, taxes, etc. to get the loan finalized. Once the loan is officially approved, then you’re heading into the final stretches of the home buying process.
- Closing. Typically 30-45 days after the process has started and per the terms of the contract. This is because they have to get all the paperwork, funding, inspections, etc. back into the office and underwriting to get the loan fully approved. You may sign papers at the title office, depending on what is best for everyone involved. This will include you, your agent, title officer, and the seller and their agent. Prior to closing you should wire you remaining balance due to the title company.
- Move In! Once you’ve signed the papers and have the keys in hand, it’s time to move in! Depending on your schedule, some people move in the day of closing or the following day if needed. It’s up to you! You can move into your home whenever you’re ready after the closing process is finished. Now it’s time to unpack your belongings and start enjoying the new home you’re going to love for years to come!
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