Buying a Home
Buying a Home?
We make a complicated process simple. We communicate proactively so that you understand each of the 3 stages from “Should I buy a home?” to “We just closed and I’m so happy…can your mortgage team help my friend buy a home too?”. Oh, and we put these steps into easy-to-understand graphics, videos, and text messages too, so that it’s easy, efficient…and even enjoyable for you.
1. Pre-Approval
During your pre-approval consultation, we’ll review your credit report and financials for loan approval, and make sure you understand your “Big 3 Ideals” to ensure your price, monthly payment, and total cash-to-close are in line with your goals. We request your documents up front, to thoroughly and efficiently process your approval.
2. Offer Accepted
At this stage we’ll also get you eligible for our exclusive “Offer Accepted” and connect you with an expert Realtor® to help you find the home of your dreams, win the offer, and navigate the waters of negotiations, inspections, and closing.
3. Get Into Contract
Here you’ll house-hunt with your Realtor®. Expect to look at more than 3 homes, unlike what you see on HDTV (that “reality” show is anything but reality in today’s real estate market). Expect to be competing with several other buyers to actually win the bid and get your offer into contract by the seller. If you’re eligible for our “Offer Accepted” program, your chances of winning a bidding war will be exponentially higher.
4. Contact Us
When you’re offer has been accepted by the seller, call, email or text our office. From there, we’ll set up your loan scenario to match your contract.
5. Application Disclosures
We will review your updated loan approval and loan estimate (“LE”) based on the terms of your contract, inform you of any documents we need updated, have you sign your application disclosures, and submit your loan to underwriting. We also order your appraisal, title work and insurance, while your Realtor® has your home inspection completed.
6. Underwriting
Your loan comes back from underwriting, and we’ll usually have a few “conditions” we need you to provide or update, including getting the appraisal. We then submit all your conditions back to underwriting to get your final “clear-to-close”, which we typically get in less than 4 weeks from when you sign your application. We then prepare your closing documents to send to the title company closing your transaction, which we typically have completed 5-7 calendar days prior to your contract closing date.
7. Closing
You did it! Your closing day is typically a happy one. You’ll usually spend about 60 minutes signing your final paperwork at a title company. The money for your loan is wired from our company to the title company after you sign the closing documents, and you get your keys. You move in. You invite us to your housewarming party. We become friends. You refer your family, friends, co-workers, and new neighbors us. Life is good.