Daniel Lets Us Follow Along As He Buys His First Home, Part II
Posted by Rebecca
We’re rejoining my brother-in-law Daniel as he buys his first home. If you didn’t read Part I yet, you’ll want to do that now.
He’s already
- Decided on the type of home he wanted
- Found the particular home he wanted to purchase
We’ll pick up here with the third step in the home buying process:
3. Find a great mortgage lender.
If you don’t know any mortgage lenders that you’d like to work with, your Realtor will be able to give you several reputable names. You need to find a lender that you feel comfortable with, whose company can offer the best loan programs to meet your needs and who will go the extra mile to stay on top of your paperwork and get you to closing smoothly and with no stress on your part. Your lender should never talk down to you and should be ready to explain the loan process in easy-to-follow terms.
I gave Daniel the names and numbers of three local lenders whom I have worked with and know to be trustworthy.
He called each one and decided to work with Casey Wells of Carolina Mortgage. Daniel felt that Casey was on the ball, quick to return his calls and explained every detail of his loan in a way that made Daniel confident in what he was doing.
Casey prepared a pre-approval letter that I could send along with Daniel’s offer when he made it. (It is important to be approved before submitting your offer. A pre-approval letter sent along with the offer will show the seller that you are financially able to make the purchase.)
If you have more questions about the loan portion of home buying, don’t worry. I’ve done an interview with Casey that you can read here.
4. Make an offer.
When you’re sure you’ve found the home that you’re ready to purchase, and you know that you can afford it, it’s time to make an offer. You’ll need to set up a time to get together with your Realtor to write a contract.
This is how it worked for Daniel:
After Daniel saw the home and was pre-approved for his loan, he knew he was ready to make an offer. He and I discussed the offer he would make, and we decided that he should offer even lower than the owner said she would accept. We knew that the property had not been marketed well and had not been shown much at all.
Once the details of the offer had been decided upon, I wrote up the GAR Purchase and Sale Agreement (the standard contract form that Realtors in Georgia use) for Daniel.
Because he was working and didn’t have time to meet with me, I scanned the contract and e-mailed it to him. After reading it over, he called me and I answered any questions he had about the contract. He then printed the contract out, signed it and faxed it back to me. Once my signature was in place, I attached Daniel’s pre-approval letter and sent it on to the seller’s agent.
We fully expected the seller to send a counteroffer back, but to our surprise, she accepted right away!
As soon as we had a binding contract (contract that is accepted and acknowledged by all parties involved), I had to meet with Daniel to collect his earnest money check and get it over to the seller’s agent.
Daniel said he’d had no idea that buying a house could be so easy!