What is the home buying process? Where do we start?

That’s always the question I hear on the first conversation with my clients, specially first time home buyers.

Step 1: To make sure that you can qualify for a loan which is the mortgage.

This step is very important for couple of reasons;
First, you will know if you can get a loan (pre-qualify or pre-approval) and for how much and if not qualified, at least you will know what you need to work on to be qualified in a few months.
The second reason, that most of home sellers including banks for foreclosure properties, requires that the buyer sends the pre-approval letter with the offer, otherwise, they are not going to consider the offer.
Third reason, that you can have some expectations on how much downpayment you will need to pay and closing costs, so you can plan accordingly.

I can’t tell you how many times people went out for months looking for a house and then they found out that they are not qualified when they wanted to submit an offer; also can’t tell you how many times people lost a great deal because their offer was not considered without the pre-approval letter and other buyers got the house.

You can contact mortgage lender for pre-approval or contact me for a list of lenders in the Houston Area. I don’t recommend at all working with any of the big banks for many reasons.

Step 2: At this point, we can start looking for houses. I will set up a page based on what you are looking for as of how many bedrooms, bathrooms, price range, location, size, school district, etc and will email you all the houses that meet your searching criteria and then we can go view the houses you like of the list.

I will not talk in details here about the remaining steps as I will be working with you and guiding you through the whole process step by step

Step 3: Making an offer
Step 4: Have inspection
Step 5: Remove contingencies, if any
Step 6: The loan process
Step 7: Closing & Key for your new house

 

Jimmy Farag, REALTOR Realm Real Estate Professionals Phone: (832) 303-5000 Cell: (832) 744-7424 Fax: (281) 598-5402 Homes for Sale in Sugarland TX Homes for sale in Katy TX See All Foreclosure Homes

What is Earnest Money?

In buying or selling a home, buyers and sellers might be confused because of all the different new terminology used. Sellers don’t remember the terminologies and need refreshment and a first time buyer might need a dictionary to help them.

What is Earnest Money?

When a buyer offers to purchase a home, the offer usually includes Earnest Money.

Earnest Money is to demonstrates to the seller that you are serious and interested in buying the home.

Many agents would say that “Earnest Money is one percent of the offer price of the home”, I would say that it is negotiable and depends on how interested you are in the house. I had a buyer who offered 25% earnest money to show how interested he is in the property. In Texas, earnest money is usually paid to the title company within 2 days of the executed contract. (Executed contract is when buyer and seller have the contract signed by both parties)

Buyers are always wondering what will happen to the money in case they decided to buy or not to buy.

In case, buyers decided to continue with the contract and buy the house, the earnest money will be used as paid amount towards the price of the house (as it is part of the downpayment) and you will be able to see it on the HUD statement at closing.

In case, buyers decided to terminate the contract, it will depend on the terms of the contract. For example, when you make the offer, you request an option period of 10 days (A negotiable period of time that can be 7 to 10 days of the execution date). If you terminate the contract in day 5, you can get your money back. If you terminate the contract in day 11, you will lose your money.

It is very important to have a Realtor helping you in the process to explain the details in the contract and do the negotiation part for you and make your real estate transaction as smooth as possible.

I am a real estate professional representing buyers and sellers, my job is to do the best of your interest.

For more information, contact Jimmy Jimmy Farag, REALTOR Realm Real Estate Professionals Phone: (832) 303-5000 Cell: (832) 744-7424 Fax: (281) 598-5402 Homes for Sale in Sugarland TX www.SellMyHouseJimmy.com www.HoustonHomesforSale-Here.com www.HoustonForeclosureHomesFree.com