The home buying process can be a stressful process, below are some tips to help both new and experienced home buyers have a successful home buying experience. For more tips, please contact Kevin Nakano at 800-477-0075 x 3.
1) Get pre-approved before you start looking – I can’t stress how important this first step is. If the home you found is your dream home, then most likely it will be someone else’s dream home too and getting your offer in as quickly as possible may be the difference between you getting the home or not. Sellers will not consider offers if they are not accompanied by a lender pre-approval letter.
2) Choosing a lender – It’s generally a good idea to choose a lender that works in an office located in the area you’re planning on purchasing a home. Odds are the lender will most likely have experience with doing purchase loans for other buyers in the area…this means that the lender’s underwriters will most likely be familiar with what is normal in terms of build design/quality, amenities, etc. for homes in your area. And, most likely the loan officer will have experience with common types of property related issues that impact your appraisal/loan and will know how to deal with said issues. Many buyers focus on interest rate and fees when choosing a lender (which is important), but buyers should also consider how experienced the loan officer is with purchase transactions, how long the loan officer has been working as a loan officer at the bank, what “overlays” (additional underwriting guidelines above and beyond the standard conventional/FHA/VA guidelines) the bank imposes on their loans, and the bank’s average time frames for appraisal, underwriting, loan docs, close of escrow, etc.. Each bank is different and answers to these questions can make your offer more attractive to a seller and help your agent write offer terms that can actually be met by you and your lender.
3) Deciding on a lender before you get into escrow – I’ve seen where buyers want to wait until they are in escrow to shop around for the best deal…and what I typically see is that this creates a very high level of stress for the buyer because shopping takes time and time is the enemy in real estate transactions. What I mean by that is that the longer it takes for a buyer to decide on a lender and start the loan process, the less time that is available for the appraiser to get the appraisal done, the less time there is for lender to underwrite the loan file and the less time there is for the lender to close escrow because all of the time frames start once the purchase contract is executed and you only have a limited amount of time per the contract to get the appraisal done, the loan underwritten and loan closed.
4) Establishing and prioritizing goals – It’s important for buyer’s to consider their goals for their home purchase and prioritize them so it will help with selecting the right home for them: Does buyer have kids or will have kids in the near future? How long does buyer plan on staying in the home? Does buyer want to rent out the property when they buy their next home? Does buyer want to live close to work and/or family? Does the buyer have specific entertainment needs like shopping, parks, hiking trails, lake/river, etc.? Does the buyer fly a lot for work?
5) Understanding what is going on in the “current” real estate market – The faster a buyer can match their perceptions in their head with what is actually going on in the current real estate market, the more successful the buyer will be in purchasing a home. For example, if a buyer thinks that they can offer a low ball (much lower than market value) price for a turn key home in a desirable area where there is very low inventory levels and homes are selling quickly…that buyer may be looking for a home for a very long time because they will be beat by the buyers that understand the current market conditions.
6) How purchase price is determined – For this tip and more buyer tips, please contact Kevin Nakano at 800-477-0075 x 3.
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