Buy your dream home with confidence

So, you want to buy a home—now what? Buying a home is an emotional, exciting, and also rewarding experience. You may also be wondering along the way—what am I missing? This is a common question. Here’s how the buying process works from start to finish.

• Find an agent. A good real estate agent will help you navigate the process every step of the way. I would love to help! 912-200-8338. To give you any advice, we must enter into a Buyer Agency relationship. We have had Buyer Agency in Georgia since the mid-1990's. This means I represent you. You are not alone in this.
• Get pre-approved. To get pre-approved for a mortgage you’ll need to get some paperwork ready: pay stubs, W-2s, bank account statements, tax returns for the past two years, and credit lines, and names and addresses of your landlords for the past two years. You could start with your current bank, but make sure you check out competitor banks as well – you might get a better mortgage loan rate by shopping around. I have several trusted lenders I can recommend to you. Also, consider the amount your lender approves you for as a maximum – this is by no means what you should spend.
• Do some online searching. Since you are here on my site, you have probably done some preliminary searches. Once you are pre-approved, I can set you up on a search directly connected to the Savannah Multiple Listing service. This will give you new listings as soon as the agents enter them. No lag time such as on Zillow or Realtor.com.
• Look at homes. Here is the fun part! Sometimes homes that look great online are not so wonderful in person. Homes that have bad photos, may also be great. It is also good to visit the neighborhoods ahead of time. Does the neighborhood look like where you'd like to live?  Go inside the coffee shop or the pizza place. How is the traffic at rush hour? Also, make sure you let friends and family know you’re looking for a new home--you may even find out about an amazing home before it hits the market. If this happens, please let me know so I can contact the seller or seller's agent to negotiate on your behalf.
• Make an offer. Once you’ve found your dream home, you may want to move quickly. I will guide you on a reasonable first offer to start negotiations based on market conditions. Also, make sure you consider closing costs which could account for 2-5% of the home price.
• Negotiate. Prepare to go back and forth with the seller a few times on price and selling conditions. I will be your advocate here and try to get you, my client, as much as possible for your money while being fair and respectful to the seller and their real estate agent. There are three possible negotiation periods. First, your initial offer. Second, due diligence. Third, the appraisal.
• An accepted offer. If you reach an agreement on your initial offer, you’ll make a deposit to an earnest money account to show good-faith. Escrow is usually 30 days where the seller takes the house off the market with the contractual expectation that you’ll purchase the house - provided you don’t find any serious problems during the due diligence. 
• Do a home inspection. Even if the home appears to be flawless, there’s no substitute for having a professional inspector review the property for quality, safety, and general condition of your potential home. You don’t want to be surprised with a home that needs a lot of unexpected repairs. If the inspection reveals undisclosed serious defects, you can negotiate further to have the seller make repairs or discount the selling price. You’ll also likely have the option to withdraw your offer and get your earnest money back. All inspections take place during due diligence.
• Appraisal. If you are purchasing a home with a loan, the lender will send an appraiser to ensure the home is valued for what the agreement is. If for some reason the appraisal does not meet the contract price, there could be a third negotiation. Here we may ask the seller to lower the price. If they choose not to, you can bring the additional money to the closing or terminate the contract and receive a refund of your earnest money. This will take place during the Appraisal period.
• Closing. When your negotiations with the seller are successful and you have completed all the steps with the lender (if you are getting a loan) you should be ready to close. At your closing, you’ll spend a little over an hour signing lots of paperwork and then will be handed the keys. Pop the chamagne! It's time to move in.