Making the largets and arguably the most important investment of your life can often times be a stressful experience, but it doesnt have to be. The agents at M3 Realty pride themselves on making the home buying experience a fun, informative and enjoyable process. Here is what you can expect:
- Meet with M3 Realty
- Whether you’re a first time buyer or a seasoned investor, we always suggest sitting down for a “Buyer Orientation Meeting”. At this one hour(ish) meeting, we sit down at our office and get familiar with eachother and dive deep into whats most important to you in a home. We discuss in depth your needs and wants, review the process of buying a home, the costs involved and get you set up right away with an MLS search.
- Get Pre-Approved
- It’s a smart move to get pre-approved for a loan early in your home search. A lender will help you determine exactly what you can afford and therefore which houses you should be considering. Having a pre approval letter from a mortgage lender is a requirement when submitting an offer on a home. Let us know if you need a referral to a good mortgage lender.
- Search for Homes
- Now comes the fun part: searching for homes that meet your parameters. Your agent will set you up with an MLS search that shows you EVERYTHING currently available for sale with and without offers and will email you new listings as soon as they become available. When you see a home you like online, your agent will show you through the property at a time that is convenient for you. The experienced agents at M3 Realty are not salesmen, rather they see themselves as educators and guides and believe their job is to provide you with all the information about a specific property- you decide if the home is right for you.
- Make an Offer
- For most buyers, this is when the butterflies really show up. Once you’ve found a home you want, your agent will work with you to craft an offer. Remember, the listing price is only a starting point. Your agent understands the market and will help guide you to craft the most attractive offer possible while still considering common contingencies like home inspection, securing financing and appraisals.
- Negotiations & Accepted Offer
- Once you’ve submitted your offer the waiting game begins. This is often times the hardest part about purchasing a home. You may be in competition with other interested buyers, or you may be in a position to negotiate with the Seller. Eventually though, you will reach a win-win scenario and your offer will be accepted. Congratulations!
- Inspection & Appraisal
- If your offer called for a home inspection, this is a big day. Sure, you get to have a home inspector look over the home to make sure there are no unseen defects you want to negotiate to have fixed. But more importantly, this is the most time you’ll get to spend in your new home until closing. Go ahead and start measuring rooms and figuring out what goes where. Having professionals look over the home in great detail before you buy is a very important step in the process.
- Final Walk Through
- Within 3 days prior to closing (and often times your agent will suggest more like 30 minutes prior to closing) you get to go back through your new home to make sure its still in the same condition as when you first saw the home. Though it’s primary purpose is to make certain that the property is in the condition you agreed to buy, you can also ensure that agreed-upon repairs, if any, were made, the seller has completely moved out and nothing has gone wrong with the home since you last looked at it.
- Sign, Close & Move In
- You did it! Congratulations! This is the big day. You’ll sign read and sign papers and then read and sign some more. Even though you’re just sitting around a table, it can be exhausting. But it also means you’ve reached the finish line and the house is now yours to make into a home.
All in all, the entire process from beginning to end is supposed to be a fun and exhilarating experience. Finding the right home can take days, weeks, even months. Just getting from an accepted offer to the closing table typically takes anywhere from 30-45 days so plan your time frames accordingly.
Contact an M3 Agent to get started today!
