Buy Your Dream Home With Confidence

So, you want to buy a house - now what? The first time buying a home is an emotional, exciting, and also exhausting experience. You may also be wondering along the way - what am I missing? This is a common question. 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 me.
• 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, taxes, insurance and home/yard maintenance 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, tax returns for the past two years, and credit lines, and names and addresses of your landlords for the past two years, if renting. Also, consider the amount your lender approves you for as a maximum – this is by no means what you should spend.  Lenders offer different programs and help, so be sure to interview a few! In West Michigan, using a local, reputable lender is key to an accepted offer. 
• Find an agent. A good real estate agent will help you navigate the process every step of the way, educating you with statistics, what other clients have experienced and their own experiences.  While I would love to be the best fit for everyone, I recommend interviewing a few agents to see who you are comfortable with.  
• Look at homes. Be patient at this stage. We may look at variety of homes online to get your reaction on features you may like. The more detailed feedback you give, the better I can align homes perfectly suited to your wants and needs. Sometimes, this process can take months! 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. I also have access to off-market properties that may be a great fit. 
• Make an offer. Once you’ve found your dream home, you may want to move quickly. I 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. With the 2024 settlement agreement, buyers may need to cover the costs of their own agent or build them into the offer.  If you are trying to save money by not using an agent, remember the seller's agent works for the seller and will make sure the contract benefits the seller the most. 
• Negotiate. Prepare to go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. I will be your advocate here and try to get you as much as possible for your money while being fair and respectful to the seller and their real estate agent.
• An accepted offer. High Five! If we 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.  This amount is typically 1% of the sales price and will be held by the title company. 
• 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, we 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.  You can expect to pay between $350 - $1000 for a home inspection, depending on the size and features of the home. 
• Wait for the Appraisal. While not nail-biting, the silence during this time can be deafening.  Don't worry!  We haven't forgotten you!  The bank sends an appraiser to the property to verify there are no health and safety concerns and the property value is sustainable for your loan amount.  If the appraiser finds anything concerning, the repairs will have to be done with a re-inspect before we can move on.  This is also a point in the process where we can renegotiate and/or walk away with your good faith deposit. 
• Closing. When your negotiations with the seller are successful, the inspection came back clean, and we have a clear to close from your lender, we should be ready to close. At your closing, you’ll spend about an hour signing lots of paperwork and depending on the possession time negotiated, you might be able to move in that day! West Michigan real estate has possession times anywhere from at-close to 45 days after close.