Home Buying 101
Have you been considering buying a home?
Check out the service you receive with the Homes by Tary Home Buying Experience!
Curious to know what the home buying process looks like from beginning to end? Check out a brief overview below!
1. Reach out to the Homes by Tary team and meet your Buyer’s Specialist
Begin your process by reaching out to us! We will partner you with one of our amazing Buyer Specialists who are trained professionals in walking you through the home buying process. They will meet with you, discuss your family’s goals, and help you put together a comprehensive timeline custom to your needs.
2. Get Pre-Approved
Learn more about what your family can afford and what that means for your budget! We have several lenders that our clients work with and love that we will send to you. You will choose who you’d like to work with and set up a time to talk with them to create your private financial plan. Once you have submitted the proper paperwork and have an official pre-approval back, your Buyer’s Specialist will start looking for homes within your determined budget.
3. Start Your Home Search
The first step in buying a new home is for us to identify the neighborhoods and areas you want to live in. Your needs drive how and when we find your next home. From this day forward, everything we do will be motivated by your goals and how you imagine your life in a new environment. Once your Buyer’s Specialist gets a thorough understanding of where you see yourself, finding your dream home will move faster and with minimal interruption to your daily life.
Investing in a home is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. So much more than a roof over your head, your home is where life unfolds and memories are made while building a financial foundation for your future.
4. Tour Homes
You and your Buyer’s Specialist will typically tour homes together alongside any co-buyers, friends, or family you’d like to join. Homeowners usually aren’t home, so you will be free to spend as little or as much time as you want.
You may have a gut reaction when visiting a home. First impressions count, but your specialist will advise you on home values and help evaluate priorities in the context of what’s available in your price range.
Sometimes buyers find their future home the first time out, and others look at several before they see one that checks all their boxes. Your specialist will help narrow down your list of homes to the top 3-5 so you can spend your time together wisely and stay ahead of the busyness of the market.
Ready to begin mapping out your family’s home buying process? Contact us today to set up a consultation and discuss your timeline, home goals, and what steps you need to take to be set up for success!
5. Make an Offer
Once you’ve narrowed down your list and have a clear favorite, you will be ready to make an offer on a home. Your buyer’s specialist will evaluate the market and draft a well-thought-out offer with you that also protects your interests. This offer includes focusing on:
The price
Terms – such as a request for closing cost help or that the offer is subject to your obtaining financing and a home inspection
Target date for closing
Earnest money deposit
Financing & appraisal contingencies
Time limit for the offer
You will be walked through the entire process so you understand exactly what you are offering and what it means while being educated on how competitive you may need to be.
6. Go Under Contract - Due Diligence
Your offer will get accepted and we can celebrate! You will now be in the “Due Diligence Period” which is several days you and your Buyer’s Specialist negotiated for that allows you to conduct a home inspection and negotiate for any repairs while allowing time for you to back out of the contract in case you cannot settle on an agreement with the seller.
Your specialist will send you the names of home inspection companies our clients have used and help you schedule your inspection. Together, you will go over any damages or items needing repair and decide on what you will request the seller to fix. Once those items are negotiated, you will sign off and finish your Due Diligence period.
7. Your Financing and Home Appraisal
After due diligence has finished, your new home will get an appraisal conducted to ensure the home is being sold for a good value. Your Buyer’s Specialist will coordinate with the appraiser to get it scheduled and discuss any plans of action should it not come back at the sales price.
While you await your upcoming closing, your lender works to complete the loan paperwork and ensure that your financing is good to go! Be sure to stay available in case they need any additional paperwork or proof of funds in the meantime.
8. Arrange your new home utilities, movers, & money wire
Now is the time to start calling your utility companies to set up the utilities in your name for the day after closing. Your specialist will get you a list of the providers in the area so that you can choose based on the pricing your family is comfortable with.
They will also send you good references for moving companies as well as home insurance agents so your family has everything right at your fingertips.
You will finally get with your bank to arrange any money that needs to be wired to the attorney’s office. These instructions will come to you in an encrypted email from the attorney only, your agent will never be the one to send you that information. Once you send that money over, you are ready to close!
9. Conduct your final walkthrough & go to closing!
You and your Buyer’s Specialist will walk through your new home right before closing to make sure all final repairs have been completed and that everything looks ready for closing that day.
You will head to the closing table right after with 2 forms of ID, your checkbook, and a hand ready to sign a bunch of papers. The closing attorney will review all the papers with you and explain what they mean as you sign. As soon as you and the seller finish signing, they hand you the keys to your BRAND NEW HOME and you are officially a homeowner!
Congratulations!
