Thinking of buying a home in Fairfield County, Connecticut? Continue reading and I will walk you through the process. 
1. Click here to make an appointment for our initial consultation. During this get together:
a. I will ask you questions about your ideal home, your preferences and “must-haves
b. We’ll go over the “typical home buying process” from finding the home to making a bid to contracts to closing….
c. I’ll outline the additional costs to acquiring a new home (closing fees include attorney fees, taxes, inspections, insurance, etc)
d. If you have any questions, I’ll provide the answers and then…
e. We’ll decide if we want to work together!
2. Your homework (yes, you’ll have homework..) will be to contact and obtain a pre-approval from a lender if you are getting a mortgage. Or if you are paying cash, you’ll need to provide a recent bank statement showing proof of funds. Once that happens we are ready to view homes!
3. After our meeting, my homework is then to identify properties that meet your criteria. For instance number of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. and then I send them to you via email. BTW - During the week, I visit properties during Broker’s Open Houses (similar to the Public Open Houses you might run across on Sunday afternoons), and from the properties I’ve visited, I will add a few additional “inside points of information”.
4. You can review my recommendations and create a list of properties you would like to visit.
5. I make and confirm the appropriate showing appointments.
6. We’ll meet in my office and go out to view the properties together. You’ll notice that I will have my IPad or a clipboard with the listings, during our outing I’ll take notes from your comments so we can discuss. We’ll have approximately 4 outings before you find your next home.
7. Back in the office, we’re ready to write-up the offer for the homeowner. Your terms beginning with the initial offer price, the amount of money you’re making for a down payment, financing terms (conventional vs FHA loan, fixed, # of years, etc), we’ll outline the contingencies (are you paying cash or getting a mortgage), we must do a home inspection so that you know what’s in store for you.
8. You’ll make a 1% deposit with the offer to purchase in a personal check. This check will be deposited within 3 business days of an accepted offer.
9. I present your offer to the listing agent to share with the homeowner.
10. At this point the homeowner has three options:
a. They can accept the offer,
b. Reject the offer, or
c. Counter the offer
11. If they accept the offer, you choose an attorney and make an appointment to review the contracts created by the seller’s attorney
12. If they reject the offer, you may increase your initial offer or walk away and we continue our search.
13. If they counter your offer, I negotiate on your behalf the best deal for you!
14. Once we have an accepted offer, we’ll have 8 business days to conduct the home inspection. This is the time you will find out how the home is to be maintained or if there are any repairs that need to be made.
15. If there are any repairs to be made, we’ll alert your chosen attorney and get quotes for the repairs. Again, I negotiate them on your behalf, the items will either be repaired or a credit will be made at the closing. This will be addressed in the contract you will sign.
16. Once you sign the contract, the seller will countersign.
17. Your attorney will forward the contract to your mortgage lender – who will begin their work approving your loan.
18. During the bank’s loan process, the appraisal will be done. This appointment is usually conducted during the business day between the appraiser and me. This is when the value of the property is set by the bank. If appraisal is good the lender will move forward with underwriting the loan. If not, we go back to the negotiation table.
19. Once we have a clear to close (aka your mortgage has been approved) , the attorneys will set the closing date and time.
20. Your attorney will contact you with a HUD form which will outline all the payments and accounts for all the dollars in the transaction. The bank will wire funds to your attorney for the transaction.
21. The morning of the closing you will need to provide a bank/cashier’s check for the remainder of your down payment.
22. Also during the morning of the closing, we will conduct the walk-through of the property you are buying. We’ll insure all repairs have been, appliances are accounted for and the property is broom clean.
23. We’ll go back to your attorney’s office for the signing of the mortgage and transaction documents.
24. The sellers may or may not attend the closing, if they do this is the time when the keys and payment for the home are exchanged and maybe garage door openers if applicable.
25. Congratulations you are now a homeowner!
If you are interested in buying a home in Stamford Connecticut, please feel free to contact me directly by clicking here.
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