Home ownership is a goal that is worth striving for. Many people seem to think that getting there is all but impossible now, but just the opposite is true. Here in Chattanooga, we still have more homes than buyers and many of them are a great value. With all of the large companies like Volkswagen, Wacker Chemical, Amazon, and more coming here, this buyer's market will not last forever.
Still, there are several steps that you will need to take in order to purchase a home.
1. Contact a lender. This should always be the first step. A good lender will be able to guide you to the type of mortgage that best suits your needs. You will want to get PRE-APPROVED! If you have credit issues they can even steer you in the right direction to get your scores straightened out so that you can get better rates and become credit worthy. I typically use Angel Sherlin with iServe Residential Lending. asherlin@iservelending.com.
2. Contact me. Well, I hope you contact me, but if you don't you still want to contact a REALTOR. Preferrably one who has the experience to get you what you need and help you reach your goals. You don't want to just call every agent on every sign of every home you want to see. It will be difficult for you to get an agent willing to give their all for you if they know you will just call the next agent on the next sign. Buyer's agents are on your side and look out for your best interests, whereas a listing agent typically represents the seller and must look after the seller's interests.
3. Sign a Buyer Representation Agreement. This shows your REALTOR that you are committed to them and they to you. If your agent doesn't ask you to sign this right away, ask them.
4. Look for homes. I can get you set up with homes that match the criteria of what you say you need. Remember, needs outweigh wants, but hopefully you can find what you want and need. Just don't fall into the trap of passing on your perfect home because you haven't seen all the homes out there. By the time you see all the other homes the one you wanted may have been sold. Typically, you will probably only look at 7-10 homes.
5. Make an offer. When you find the home you want you will want to write an offer. Now, it seems that lately buyers will make an offer of $130,000 for a $200,000 home and think it's great...only to be disappointed when the seller doesn't even counter them. You want to be realistic with your offer. See what comparable homes in the area are selling for. If the property is hot you might need to offer right around full price! Typically in our area, well priced homes are selling for about 97% of list price. You may also expect a counter offer (see my previous blog on counters).
6. Inspections. Once an offer is accepted you will enter a period where all of the inspections, title work, etc get done. In Tennessee, all of the inspections will be your responsibility. I will help you the entire way so you don't need to get worried, but there are a lot of steps. Actually, this is where my real work begins and you get to relax a little bit. If the home inspection finds some things to be fixed, we submit another form to the seller. Here we enter another short negotiation period. Once things get hammered out we move to the next step.
7. Closing. This is where you and the seller along with the agents meet at a Title Company to sign off on everything. Typically, at the end of the closing, which is about 45 minutes to an hour, the home is yours.
Now, this is obviously just a bare bones run down of the steps you need to take to home ownership, but it will give you an overall idea of what is needed.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me at 423-902-9836. You can also shoot me an email to David@MyChattanoogaHome.com or visit my website, http://www.mychattanoogahome.com/. I have been a full time REALTOR since 1999 and work with Crye-Leike, REALTORS.
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