Here at Angeleno Real Estate, we understand that ownership of Real Estate is the goal for many Angelenos. Whether it be for the growth of your own wealth via investment opportunity, having your family’s forever home, or not bearing the burden of paying rent. We understand that Real Estate can be an intricate subject with many different aspects and steps to the path of homeownership. That is why we are here to simplify the intricacy of homeownership. We assist in tackling the many questions you have as a buyer. Such as, what can I afford? What down payment do I need? What will my interest rate be on a loan? What does the market look like? Is now the time to buy? What is the escrow process? We will assist with all these questions and many more! Get in touch with us to start the conversation and get you on your path!
Pre-Qualification is the first step to obtaining an idea of how much house you can afford. This estimate is commonly determined by self-reported information instead of verification through pulling your credit reports and other financial history/documents. This will give you an estimate of how much you can “possibly” be approved for when the time comes.
Pre-Approval adds strength to your offer and credibility. The reason being is because this shows that a lender has verified your financial information and upon review has determined your capability to take on mortgage payments. Now, when you get pre-approved your lender will provide an estimate of how much you can borrow, your interest rate, and the monthly mortgage payments. This is an important piece of information for both of you in your home search as it allows you to pinpoint your home search and make strong and credible offers on homes.
Now that you have your Pre-Approval we can conduct a formal search pinpointing homes within your budget! When embarking on your home search it’s important to differentiate between what’s needed and what’s wanted—for example, the basic necessities such as bedroom and bathroom count to accommodate everyone in the household. If you have any furry friends who need space to run around and enjoy themselves then a backyard is important. If you have more than one or two cars or have many possessions a garage and plentiful storage space are also a necessity. If you are living with elders it might be best to look into houses with one level and not two.
Now what you want in a home is not something that is necessarily required in a home and can be later added to the home itself.
When making a formal offer through a Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) there are many different parts. Such as stating the price you are willing to purchase the home at. Remember depending on the situation if you want to make your offer stronger you could potentially offer to purchase the home at a higher price than what the sellers are listing it at. Another situation might present itself where you might be able to purchase the home at a lower price than what they are asking for. Again, these situations depend on a number of factors such as Days on The Market, Market Conditions in the area, and other stipulations made in your offer.
The following stipulations in the purchase agreement are the Contingencies. The inspection contingency, appraisal contingency, and loan contingency. In your offer, you spell out the terms of these contingencies in terms of the timeline of the contingencies themselves. In one situation to make your offer stronger, you could potentially shorten your contingency period to close the sale faster, but again that all depends on the circumstances and your strategy. Aside from that you also dictate specifics such as who pays for what closing costs, title, inspections, and whatnot. You also dictate what is included with the purchase of the home such as appliances. Now an offer may be counter-offered and renegotiated a number of times until both, and if, parties have come to an agreement. There are many more intricacies to an offer and if you would like to discuss more schedule a meeting with us.
Escrow is the third-party service that handles the funds of both parties and ensures that the Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) terms and conditions are being met.
This is your opportunity, as a buyer, to understand what you are getting yourself into when it comes to the condition of the home that you might possibly be buying. There is a multitude of things inspectors will search for when going throughout the property. A couple of examples from the exterior of the property are, are the window seals intact? Does the garage door function successfully? Is there asbestos? Are there any leaks? Is there rotting wood? What’s the overall condition of the roof? Have electrical outlets been grounded? Is there any damage to the sewer lines? These are only a few examples of what an inspection entails. Now as a buyer the inspection from the inspectors gives a detailed report, that acts as a new homeowner’s checklist. You can view this report as a maintenance schedule and checklist for your potential purchase which, of course, you can use to potentially renegotiate with the seller.
This is possibly one of the most exciting steps of the whole process. Loan funding is the transfer of money to close the purchase! This means you are almost at the finish line! This usually occurs a few days before the closing date once all funding conditions of the lender have been met and all paperwork in accordance with the lender has been signed.
This is your opportunity, just before closing, to ensure that the property is in the same exact condition, or even in better condition, as the last time you saw the home. You can ensure that the seller has not taken anything that they were not supposed to and also see that the seller has made the repairs they promised to make if any.
Congratulations! You’ve made it through the buying process and now are a homeowner. During closing, the lender will transfer to the funds to the seller and the loan will be initiated! You will then receive your keys and then it will be time to bring out the champagne! Congratulations!