3 Phases of Buying a Home

Curious what will happen if you decide to buy a home? We will explain the whole process so you know what you get yourself into!

A lot of people buying a home do not necessarily understand or know the path or the correct process, they just know the end goal, which is making a purchase. We will go over the three phases in the home buying process in order to give some clarity, confidence during the process.

Planning/strategy phase

The first step in this phase is meeting with the Realtor. Give us a call, we will discuss your options as well as your financial situation and assist in getting your pre-approved.

The next step is the pre-approval. You will want to get connected with a local lender, not an on-line lender. Getting pre-approved right after you meet with your agent is an important next step and will make the rest of the process go much smoother. 

Next up is working with your realtor to define your must haves. Which are the five most important things you are looking for in your home. It could be the size, the bedroom count, the location, school districts, etc. We will focus on finding those in your new home as we plan out our strategy.

Last in this phase is researching the area demographics. This could be the neighborhood, making sure the school district meets expectations, pretty much everything that matters to you in the make-up of your future neighborhood.

House hunting phase

The next phase is the house hunting phase. This is where it gets fun. In the first step of this phase, your realtor will provide a list of homes that meet your needs/must haves and you will get to start touring them.

Step two of house hunting involves you falling in love with the home. This is our goal and the phase that we get excited about. We always aim to match buyers with the home they fall in love with.  

Step three of this phase is putting in an offer.

Contract to close phase

Once an offer is put in, we are on to the final phase: contract to close. This phase is a long one, but means you are almost there. It is a little more technical with a lot of paperwork being passed back and forth and a lot going on behind the scenes.

It starts with mutual acceptance of the offer and immediately moves on to placing earnest money into the escrow account. Then you will proceed to the home inspections , the lender ordered appraisal, and the final loan approval to buy the home.

From there you will sign your loan documents followed by a final walkthrough. Then what you have been looking forward to, the big day of closing and getting your keys.

The above are the big three phases of buying a home. The biggest mistake that we see is buyers skipping the first phase, which is vital to success. Articulating a strategy is key as you develop a plan before you jump into the house hunting phase and start touring homes.

We will sit down with you and lay out a strategy that not only gets you into the home of your dreams but ensures the most seamless transaction as possible.

Ready to make a move? Give us a call or send us a message below!