You have been looking for a new house in Northern Virginia and you think that you have finally found it. What happens next
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?If you are working with a Realtor®, the first thing you will do is sit down and talk about what your offer will look like. An offer is so much more than just what you will pay. This discussion will include deciding when and where you would like to have the settlement for your purchase. You will discuss who will pay for certain inspections, how long it will take for these inspections, you will let the seller know how you would like to be contacted. You will discuss your financing, including how much you will put down as an earnest money deposit, and finally, you will determine the offer price. There will be more details, and these details vary from area to area, but these are some of the big ones.
The next step is to get the contract written and signed. Your Realtor® will put together the offer and you will either meet to sign it or do it online (depending on your circumstances and timing). Before your offer is submitted to the seller, you will need to get a letter from the lender that says you are pre-approved (or at a minimum pre-qualified) for the purchase. This letter will be included with your offer package.
You will need to write a check for earnest money. A copy of this check will be included with your offer (in some cases the seller's agent or the title company holds the check, but it is often held by the Buyer's Broker). This check will be held until the contract is ratified and then deposited when all parties have come to terms signed all parts of the offer.
As part of your offer, you will sign any disclosure documents that the seller provides (this can include a Property Disclosure form, a lead-based paint disclosure, a relocation disclosure and others, as appropriate). These signed disclosures must accompany the offer so that they become a part of the contract.
When all components of the contract have been signed and assembled, your Realtor® will present this contract to the seller and/or their Broker.
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