Buying Your Next Home

Whether it’s the first time or the fifth time, we know that buying a home can feel both exciting and overwhelming. Let us lead each step of the process, so you can focus on packing and picking paint colors.

Let’s Take One Step at a Time

Find A Lender

A good lender will help you understand how much house you can afford, what you will need for a down payment, and how much to expect to pay in closing costs. (BTW, we know a few if you need a recommendation!)

Review Documents & Disclosures

We’ll walk you through each of the documents related to being a home buyer — Offer to Purchase Contract, Mineral, Oil and Gas Rights Disclosure, and Residential Property Disclosure — and answer any questions you have. (There are no dumb questions! We promise.)

Determine Your Must-Haves

Missing this step will make the rest nearly impossible. Identify exactly what you can’t live without in your home, what items would be nice to have, and where you can be flexible. Remember, location is the thing you can never change about your home. (Please note: Couples, this will involve compromise.)

Search and Preview Homes

We will implement an online search tool that automatically updates you when properties are available that fit your criteria. We recommend visiting several homes to get a feel for the market. You might make surprising discoveries about what you love or hate in a home.

Make An Offer

You’ve found “the one!” We’ll help you determine an offer price, write the terms of the deal, and review all the details with you before we present it to the listing agent and seller. (We’d be lying if we didn’t say this step involves anxiously waiting on an answer).

Do Your Due Diligence

Your offer has been accepted! We will help you investigate the integrity of the home so you know exactly what you are buying. Inspection choices range from simple home inspections to things like termite, radon, and structural inspections.

Close on Your New Home

We’ll join the closing attorney to sign final documents and pay closing costs. The deed will be recorded with the city and you will receive the keys to the next place you’ll call home. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Tell me all about your next home so I can get to work!

Buyer Glossary

A negotiated, non-refundable deposit paid directly to the seller so the buyer has time to conduct investigations of the home and make a final decision to buy the house. The fee does count toward the purchase of the home. Only if the seller is found to be in breach of contract is the money returned to the buyer.

This is a negotiated time period for the buyer to perform inspections and appraisals and make repair requests to the seller.

The earnest money deposit is a negotiated amount of money that is also submitted once a contract is signed. This money is given to an agreed-upon closing attorney who deposits it into a trust account until closing. You are entitled to receive this money back if you terminate for any reason or no reason at all within the due diligence period.

During the loan process, your lender will order an appraisal from a third-party vendor to give an unbiased opinion as to the value of the home.

Fees that typically account for 2-5% of the purchase price of your home and cover things like loan origination and deed-recording fees, title searches, title insurance, surveys, taxes and credit report charges. Lenders can give an estimate of these costs during the process.
“BRIAN WAS SO WONDERFUL TO WORK WITH!

We wanted to make a quick purchase and he helped by taking us to a bunch of houses. Moving from out of state is always intimidating but he did such a great job at making a house our home!”

— Ciara