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working with real estate agents
Steps to Home Ownership
The steps towards buying a home begin, like
every purchase, with MONEY:
- Find a loan officer you trust (e-mail
for a list with names) and get your
mortgage pre-approved. This will help
you enormously when making an offer.
Sellers love pre-approved buyers,
because it tells them the buyer is
serious and serious buyers don't waste
the seller's time which would make me as
a seller more willing to negotiate.
- Visit our
MLS
page
and check out all current listing
in the Asheville area.
All current
listings
If you prefer we can meet at the
office and view listings together.
- Now comes the fun part: you pick the
homes you would like to see and we will
arrange the showings immediately.
- Once you have selected the home you
wish to purchase we will need to prepare
a written Offer to Purchase Agreement
that will be presented to the seller.
The purchase agreement includes the
price you are offering, amount of down
payment, amount of earnest money, the
terms you desire and the date of
closing. These terms include the type of
financing, possession date, and any
other conditions you need. After the
purchase agreement has been prepared, you will need to carefully read the
agreement and make sure you understand
everything it contains. This is an
important step because whatever is
listed on the agreement is what will be
presented to the seller so it should not
reflect any terms you cannot fulfill. Do
not assume anything can be changed or
added at a later date.
- Once you have completed and signed
the purchase agreement, we will present
your offer to the seller’s Listing
Agent. The seller will then have three
options: accept the offer as presented;
reject the offer; prepare a
counter offer to submit to you.
- If a counter offer is presented to
you, it will outline the terms and
conditions the seller desires. Maybe the
price you offered was not acceptable or
maybe the possession date you requested
is not convenient. Whatever the
case, we will work with you to negotiate
an agreement in the areas where you and
the seller differ. After an acceptable
offer has been agreed upon, both parties
sign the agreement and it becomes a
binding contract.
- Your next step as a buyer will be
to obtain financial approval from your
lender. You most likely will also want
to order property related services: -
home inspection - pest inspection -
radon test - well and septic test if
applicable - survey - appraisal - a
closing attorney.
- Also: when you talk to your loan
officer he will provide you with a good
faith estimate. The good faith estimate
shows your monthly mortgage payment as
well as the estimated cash you’ll need
for closing.
- 10 days before closing
we will remind
you to contact the phone company,
utilities, cable company, moving
company, post office, newspaper,
magazines, friends and family of your
impending move and change of address.
- On closing day all parties will meet
to finalize the deal. You need to bring:
Cashier’s or Certified Check for the
amount of the down payment and the
closing costs. Personal ID – Drivers
License. Insurance
Policy. Congratulations! You are the
owners now!
In addition to selling price (new
mortgage and earnest money are credited to
buyer) buyer usually pays for the following
at the closing table:
- Attorney's fee
- Recording expenses (transfer charges)
- Title insurance
- Loan origination fee (if applicable)
- Appraisal and survey fees (if required by lender)
- prepaid insurance and tax reserve for mortgage assumed by
buyer
- Prepaid general real estate taxes
- Fuel oil on hand (if applicable)
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