You've found a home you'd like to buy. Now what?

Once you’ve found the home you’d like to purchase, you will need a few things:

1. You will need to know the maximum price you are willing and/or able to pay for the property. If you intend on acquiring a loan, you must be pre-approved by your lender of choice.

2. You will need a Realtor® (Lauren G. Tizabi) to represent you by writing the offer for you. It is best to have your own agent and to avoid using the seller’s agent (Refer to my last article, “Why is there a buyer’s and a seller’s agent?”), to negotiate the price and/or terms if necessary, fight for you, and to walk you through the escrow process should your offer be accepted and escrow opened.

3. You will need proof of funds (typically, people use bank statements), and a pre-approval letter from your lender if you are getting a loan. It is best to send the proof of funds and pre-approval in WITH your offer to show that you are a serious and capable buyer, however you do have 3 days after acceptance of the offer to provide these documents.

My next blog article will be, “So you’ve opened escrow. What happens now?”