I'll be writing a series of blogs for Fort Worth Home Buyers over the next couple of weeks. So subscribe to our blog this will be a great stress reliever for you if you are a home buyer.
It's still pretty stressful and scary but hopefully this series will help make the process more pleasant. We'll try to take the scary away!
Ok let's get started.
OPTION PERIOD
You have found your home the inspections are done and the contract has gone hard. Ok, what does a hard contract mean? In Texas we have an option period usually 7 days after the contract is executed. This is the soft period of the contract, meaning we are still in negotiation because you as the buyer have paid a nonrefundable fee to terminate the contract for any reason during the option period with no consequence. Hence the soft period is where you have an executed contract but are still in negotiation.
THE HARD CONTRACT
We have now passed and negotiated any repairs or whatever else my come up and you as the home buyer want to move forward. Now the contract is a hard contract.
If you want to back out at this point or anytime before closing you will lose you earnest money. Also the seller may have the right to sue you for damages. That's why it's a hard contract because it's hard to back out.
WHAT ELSE ID GOING ON?
The Title Company has ordered the title work. What's that? The title policy is the insurance, that as the home buyer you want to make sure the property has a clean and clear title to the property. This is an insurance policy. The title company does a title search to see if anyone has filed a lien or a claim to the property. When the title company completes this they will send you the "Title Commitment". They will state what they are insuring the title except for the exceptions. It's the exceptions you need to look over carefully on schedule "B". These are the exceptions the title company IS NOT INSURING. Ask your Realtor or the Title company if you see something you don't understand.
At the same time your loan officer has finished your file with all the docs you have sent to them. They will send the file on to the processor who goes through the file and "scrubs it" getting it ready to go to underwriting.
We'll finish the process in the next blog.
Happy Trails,
Donnie
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