Searching for a home is an emotional experience. Usually, you search for homes and schedule some showings with your Realtor and go out searching for your next 
home(with pre approval letter in hand). The first couple of times looking at homes can be overwhelming. Most people will see homes they don't like, some that might work for them, some more that they don't like, and then....they find the ONE! As soon as you walked in...you knew it was the one. It was a roller coaster of emotions to find the house of your dreams, but now what do you do?
People tend to get caught up in the "finding a home" process and don't know what the next steps entail, so here is what you can expect.
1. Your Realtor should prepare a CMA(comparative market analysis) for you to review recent comparable homes for sale in the same neighborhood to assess how much the home is worth.
2. Your Realtor should prepare an offer form(in Illinois we use the Multi Board 5.0 Contract) to send over to the Seller's party along with your pre approval letter.
3. After you negotiated the price and other terms for the sale of the home, both buyers and sellers need to sign off on the agreed terms and earnest money shall be delivered to seller's side within 24 hours.
4. Once you have an executed contract, you have 5 business days(10 calender days for foreclosures), to have your real estate attorney review the terms of the contract and amend it if needed(except for purchase price). You are also allowed to perform a home inspection during these first five(5) days after date of acceptance. PLEASE DO A HOME INSPECTION! I always require my clients to do a home inspection because it is worth the couple hundred dollars to make sure you know what you are getting with one of the biggest investments of your life.
5. During this first week after executing the contract, you should also look into filling out and preparing all documents needed for acquiring your loan.
6. After you provide all your documents to your mortgage banker in that first week, things slow down quite a bit. You let the professionals do their work. Your mortgage banker will be ordering an appraisal for the home and wait for final approval from the bank's underwriter and your attorney should be reviewing the title policy for the home to make sure there are no unexpected liens on there.
7. Once you have a "clear to close" mortgage loan, you are almost done and will schedule a final walk thru of the home(usually done the day before or morning prior to closing).
At the closing, remember to bring a valid ID, your downpayment(if not wired already), and be prepared to sign your name A LOT. Once you sign the last paper and the bank wires your money to the title company, you will finally receive keys to your new home. As a Realtor, I would be happy to assist you in purchasing your next home and helping navigate you smoothly throughout this home buying process.
If you are interested in finding out more information on buying your first home, please call me at 847-496-0062, visit my website www.cornerstonerealtychicago.com, or email me at cornerstone201@gmail.com.
Kind Regards,
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