Buyer Resources
Work with a Real Estate Professional
Purchasing real estate is a complex and major transaction that involves many details. An experienced real estate agent can guide you through the process and help you avoid costly mistakes.
Typically, the seller will have a Seller’s Agent representing them. Your Siebert Realty agent will be dedicated to providing you with the highest level of personal and professional service in the industry. With our many years of experience, we can help ensure that your home buying experience is enjoyable and stress-free.
Obtain Financial Pre-Approval
One of the biggest mistakes a home buyer can make is not getting pre-qualified or pre-approved for a loan. A pre-qualified loan means that a lender took information from you and ran a credit report. Based on your information and the credit report, they can issue you a pre-qualification letter.
A pre-approved loan means you and the lender have gone through all of the documentation and a full credit report is ordered. You benefit by having your loan pre-approved in several ways:
• You eliminate any surprises about your ability to borrow by providing the lender with the information up front. If there are questions about income, credit, or down payment, you can address them and resolve them without the last minute panic that can occur if you have not been pre-approved. Many times, credit reports include inaccurate information.
• You are negotiating with the seller from a much stronger position. It shows the seller that you not only can afford the home, but also there will be no surprises in your loan process later. When a property has multiple offers, the seller will be more inclined to choose the buyer who has confirmation that the loan will go through.
Pre-Qualification can be done by phone, e-mail, or fax, and there is no obligation or cost to you.
Select and View Properties
Once you have obtained pre-approval and have determined your affordable price range, you can begin to select and view available homes and new construction models. Having a set of guidelines based on requirement is essential to making decisions based on facts and not just emotions. We will discuss which home features you absolutely require and which ones are optional for you.
It is recommended that you keep notes and photos of houses you have seen. If you write down the unique features, as well as the pros and cons of each home you are considering, you will not have to rely strictly on memory.
Some important questions to ask when viewing a home include:
• How long the property has been for sale?
• Has the price of the property has been reduced during the listing period?
• Have there been other offers to purchase?
The answers to these questions help determine how motivated the seller is and give you added leverage in negotiations, should you decide to make an offer.
Our experience with all parts of the City of Virginia Beach will ensure that we will be able to help you choose one that matches your lifestyle.
Offer to Purchase and Contract of Sale
When you have identified a home that meets your needs, it is time to make an offer and negotiate. Your offer will be detailed in a Standard Purchase Agreement which specifies the purchase price, down payment, mortgage information etc.
To help determine an offering price, we will prepare a Comparative Market Analysis showing what similar homes have recently sold for, and the difference between their asking and selling prices. We will present your offer to the Selling Agent on your behalf and you can be assured that we have a great deal of experience in negotiating home purchases. You can rely on us to utilize the best strategy for your situation. We will discuss your options at each point along the way.
In addition to the offer, you will need to put up an earnest money deposit as a sign of Good Faith that you are seriously interested in buying the home. That deposit is held in an escrow account and will then be credited back to you so that it can be applied at closing. The amount of earnest money is normally about 1-2% of the sales price of the home, however this amount varies.
Your offer will then be presented to the seller with your pre-approval letter attached to ensure the seller you are a qualified buyer. The seller will either accept, reject, or counter your offer. Once the contract of sale is signed by both you and the seller, the contract is legally binding. You will proceed with the property inspection and secure your mortgage as well. If your offer was rejected or you were unable to come to a final agreement, your earnest money will be returned to you.
Inspect the Property
We recommend that the purchase of the home be contingent upon a satisfactory home inspection. We will include an Inspection Contingency Addendum to the Purchase and Sale Agreement allowing you the opportunity to perform a home inspection. The seller is required to provide you with a Property Disclosure, which states what is included, what is not included, what is working, and what is not working in the home.
The Inspection Addendum will include an objection date by which this must be done. Any items that you request the seller to repair or replace must be submitted in writing. The seller has a resolution deadline to respond to your request. At that time, if you and the seller do not agree on the inspection objections, you have the right to terminate the Contract.
Appraisal
Your lender will assign an appraiser to go out and appraise the property. The cost of the appraisal will be paid by you up front when you apply for your pre-approval or at closing. The property must appraise for the purchase price or above. If it does not, you have a few of choices:
• Terminate the Purchase and Sale Agreement
• Ask the seller to adjust the selling price
• Pay the difference in cash and continue with the contract.
Secure the Mortgage
If you are pre-approved, the only tasks left for the lender to do are:
• Obtain the appraisal
• Obtain a survey of the property, if required
• Request that you provide them with your current pay stubs and bank statement
It is very important that you abstain from making any large purchases that might affect your credit score or rating. It is best to discuss anything questionable with your lender first so that it will not affect your mortgage.
Final Walk Through
Shortly before the date of closing, you will make a final inspection of the house you are buying.
Verify that all items that were supposed to be included in the house are indeed present, and similarly those that were not, have been removed.
Your Siebert Realty agent will accompany you through the final inspection and if there are any problems that need to be addressed; we can deal with them before the closing.
Closing
The Closing is the process by which the title to your new home will be transferred to you, homeowners’ insurance will be verified, the terms of the mortgage will be finalized, and the keys to the new house will be given to you. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the property belongs to the buyer as of the day of closing and delivery of the deed. Unless otherwise stated in the Purchase and Sale Agreement, the seller must be completely out of the property by the time and date of the closing.
In most cases, and if you desire it, your Siebert Realty agent will attend the closing with you. This will typically take place at the Title Company’s office. Beforehand, we will clarify any aspects of the closing that are not familiar to you. Your Mortgage Broker or Escrow Officer from the title company will inform you of the amount to bring to closing in the form of a bank or certified check.
Although there may be additional documents involved, the primary items that are handled at the Closing include:
• The Closing Statement
• The Purchase and Sale Agreement
• The Loan Package from your lender
• Homeowners’ Insurance (Fire, theft, wind and hail, flood are examples of hazard insurance)
• Title Insurance
• The Title and the Deed
• Down Payment
• Closing Costs
Taking Possession and Moving In
This is the day everyone has been waiting for! It will be a busy day so be rested up!
Congratulations on the purchase of your new home!