After you have gotten your financial house in order, met with a realtor and narrowed down your objectives it is time for the fun part of buying a home. It is time to sort through the list of inventory available that meet your criteria and actually start to scope houses out. Your realtor will get a list of homes currently on the market for sale with your objectives in mind and the process of finding the perfect home will begin.
Your realtor will begin showing you houses that meet the criteria. These homes will be homes that have most everything you are looking for, in your price range while staying in the area that you are hoping to purchase in. When looking at these homes keep a detailed log of each home. Bring a camera along to document the good and bad points in all of the homes you are seeing. It can become overwhelming to keep track of everything if you don’t document it somehow along the way. The first day out is especially taxing; there is so much to consider.
If you have exhausted the list of homes that met your criteria but aren’t meeting your expectations it may be time to reevaluate. This happens more often that one would think in buying a home. At first you make think it is so important to have a lake front home however when searching lakefront homes you realize what is really important is land. To find land and a lakefront might take time; time might not be an option for you. Priorities change when you are actually exploring different homes.
Make sure that you keep open lines of communication with your realtor. If the real estate that you are being shown is in the not what you had envisioned you need to tell your agent sooner rather than later. It is a waste of your valuable time to be shown homes that you are totally not interested in. This also may be the time when you start doing driving by the property before your realtor sets up viewings.
Before you know you have found the home of your dreams! Now comes the part that most home buyers and sellers for that matter dread; the offer and acceptance process. Thankfully real estate professionals are there to guide you through this process. This process goes much smoother if both the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent work with their clients on bring reasonable demands and expectations to the table.
After your offer has been accepted you move on to the final steps in the home buying process; inspection, title, appraisal, insurance, escrow and closing. The final step moves fairly quick as you are preparing to move, setting up utilities and handling all the unexpected events that come with buying a home. A lot of the final steps are behind the scene and won’t involve a lot of input from you as the buyer. Your agent and mortgage lender will handle many little details in order to make the transition of ownership easier. Before you know it you will have the keys to your new home in your hand and will be knee deep in excitement making your new home yours!
Lake and Land Real Estate is Livingston County’s premiere realtor out of Pinckney, Michigan serving homes that provide a recreational lifestyle including golf courses, lakes and the Huron river chain of lakes, throughout Hamburg, Pinckney and Howell. Information can be found at http://www.lakelandmi.com/buyers-resources.php