How to be prepared and what to expect when buying a home

Step 1: Get pre-approved

Once you've decided that you want to buy a home, you must verify what payments you’ll well afford. There are several tools available like an affordability calculator that offer you a general plan of what your payments would be, however to get a better idea of the worth vary of homes to look at, you should get pre-approved. A pre-approval is helpful in some ways. First, it provides you an inspiration of what loan amount and purchase price you can afford. Second, it strengthens your offer to the vendor and therefore the seller's real estate agent. Third, by getting pre-approved, you're getting a jump begin on the approval method. Once you find your home and open written agreement, you are already a few steps ahead. Get pre-approved nowadays.

Step 2: Determine which loan best suits your needs

There are several loan choices obtainable from first-time buyer programs to traditional conventional, jumbo, and FHAloans. There are 30 year and 15 year fixed loans likewise as adjustable and hybrid loans like a 5/1 ARM or 3/1 ARM. If you are interested in lower payments, an interest-only loan could also be a good option for you. With all the chores available, you would like knowledgeable recommendation to assist you select the proper loan for your situation. Make sure to visit our loan options page to find out regarding all the options that are available and if you have more queries, you can contact us.

Step 3: Contact a real estate agent and start shopping

This is the fun part. Once you have been pre-approved and have an idea of what worth vary you qualify for, you’ll be able to work with a real estate agent to look at homes available within the areas you'd like to live. Once you find a home you wise, you can work with the real estate agent to draw up a proposal and complete a purchase agreement. The vendor has the choice to submit a counter-offer and you may go through several rounds of counters. Once you and the seller agree to the price and terms, written agreement will be opened. Typical written agreement periods are 30 days however 45 and 60 day written agreements are not uncommon.

Step 4: Review your loan application and update your loan file

Depending on how much time has passed since we issued your pre-approval, we may need to collect some updated info and updated documents from you. We probably have everything we need, however it is a good idea to go over the homepurchase document checklist to ensure we have everything we need.
Once we’ve updated your file, your home buying specialist will re-examine the main points of your loan program, ensure the rate that you just want, and re-examine your closing fees. We'll make sure that you understand every detail of your loan program and answer any queries you’ve got before moving forward.

Step 5: Lock your rate

At now,, if you want to secure your interest rate, your home buying specialist will send you a lock agreement to verify the terms of the loan and rate. Once you review and approve the lock agreement, your home buying specialist will collect a lock deposit fee to lock in your rate. The lock deposit will be credited towards your closing fees at the end of the transaction. For more info about the lock deposit, please read our "What could be a lock deposit" video. Once we receive the signed lock agreement and lock deposit, we will send you some preliminary disclosures such as the good faith estimate and truth-in-lending disclosure to review and sign which detail the terms of your rate and loan.

Step 6: Home inspection and appraisal

Shortly after written agreement is opened, it is recommended to schedule a home examination with an expert who will walk you through the property to look for any red flags such as structural damages or appliances that may not be working properly and other items that may need to be fixed. It’s a small investment for some peace of mind. Any major issues would need to be addressed before the close of written agreement date. Whereas your loan is being reviewed and processed, we will schedule an appraisal appointment with the seller's agent to confirm the value of the home. Not like a home inspection, that appraisal is a requirement to determine that the home is worth what you are paying for it.

Step 7: Loan approval, signing, and closing

Once we have got everything we want, your account manager will submit your complete file to the underwriting department for approval. Once approved, we’ll prepare loan documents for you to sign. Generally, you’ll sign your loan documents at the written agreement or title office and it will generally take between an hour and an hour and a half. After we receive the signed loan documents back, we will review your loan file one more time to make sure we have everything we need. If everything looks good, your loan will fund 2 to 3 days after your signing, and you’ll get the keys to your new home!