The Buyer’s Roadmap
Understand the process, step by step
As your trusted advisor, we will be there for you every step of the way. This frees you to focus on the one thing that nobody but you can do - pick the house that feels right. We’re here to do everything else and help you achieve your home buying goals!
Meet With Your Agent
Sit down with us either in person or on a video call to discuss your goals and timeline and to learn about the full detailed process from start to finish. This is also a time to establish mutual ‘standards & expectations’ for your home buying experience. At this stage you’ll be provided with our tools and resources packet including exclusive vendor and contractor lists, and sample contracts & disclosures.
Get Pre-Approved
Meet with a professional mortgage broker or lending institution (or 3 then choose 1) to get a clear picture of your financial position and buying power. We recommend this interview process so that you can make the best educated decision for your lending options and experience. Lenders abilities and local reputation can make or break a Real Estate transaction and because of that, affect how likely your offer is to be accepted by Sellers.
Look at Houses!
After you’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage, we will then be able to help you find the perfect home. Nobody knows your tastes better than you - so be empowered and send us homes and properties you’re curious about or simply want feedback on. You prepared, we prepared, now it’s time to tour your options!
Write Your Offer
You’ve found ‘the one’! We’ll help your offer stand out above any competition and craft your best unique buying strategy for the respective home of your choosing. Offer price, terms, and conditions are based on your buying power, the house, the level of competition, and available comparable sale data.
Acceptance & Escrow
Congratulations - your offer has been accepted! Once the escrow office processes your timely earnest money payment they’ll open a new private escrow account to deposit and hold those funds and disperse appropriately during the final stages of closing. *Note, earnest money is an elected portion of your total down payment funds.
Inspections & Repairs
We’ll help you setup inspections (examples: whole home, radon, sewer scope, and buried tank scan) as well as identify and negotiate any applicable repairs, credits, or price reductions based on the findings. Hiring licensed and qualified inspectors is an out of pocket non-refundable cost for buyers. It’s best to budget for these out of pocket expenses and we’ll provide you a list of trusted professionals and pricing prior to step 2 of the home buying process.
Appraisal
If you’re financing your home, a lender will likely require a physical inspection of the home and an assessment of value by a state licensed appraiser. We can help you get ahead of appraisal requirements regarding any potential health and safety issues that could arise. We’ll provide efficient communication to help best estimate your appraisal report timeline.
Signing Day
Once repairs and or credits have been negotiated, the appraisal has been completed, and your lender has issued a final approval of your loan - all documents are then sent to escrow for closing document (CD) preparation. You’ll then sign the CD with escrow on ‘signing day’!
Funding & Recording
While signing is a symbolic step, it doesn’t actually mean you own the house yet. After your lender funds the loan and escrow records the deed with the county, you’re then officially a homeowner! Expect us to contact you directly with the official news!
Celebrate!
The last un-official (but we’re changing that!) step is celebrating your success! You’ve worked for this milestone - so let us celebrate you, your journey, and achievement! We’ll work within your parameters to coordinate and execute a celebration event; quiet and intimate, or a whole housewarming party and anything in-between.
For a full glossary of Real Estate Terms (ex. escrow, appraisal, deed, etc.) visit our blog post ‘Real Estate glossary - what does this mean?’
When we say that we’re out to make clients for life, we mean it.
What people are saying
“I can’t express my gratitude enough to Megan. She negotiated a great deal, savings us a lot of money! Her talent as a Realtor and her personality were invaluable to our home buying process.”
— Clark Y.
“Megan was awesome! Not only did she show patience, diligence and attention to detail but she was also super fun to work with. She communicated every step of the way and got us everything we asked for!”
— Haydn M.
