Buying A to Z the Complete Realty Way

The Buying Process from A to Z

Customers Ask Us: What do we need to do before we start looking for our new home?

1. Start with Financing. Call Complete Realty to find a loan program that meets your needs and to get pre-qualified or pre-approved. We will work with you to check your credit, straighten out any errors on your report, and answer any questions as you determine a comfortable monthly budget for your new purchase. This process will also tell you the loan amount and home price range for which you qualify. If you already have a lender, please work with them to pre-qualify and give us a call if we can be of any help with your real estate needs.

2. Make a list of what you want and need in your new home:
          Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
          Approximate square footage
          One story or two
          Neighborhood
          School systems
These are just a few of the options. You will find that the list will change somewhat as you preview homes and discuss the many options with your Complete Realty agent. But this is an excellent start.

3. Begin Shopping! One of our agents will take all the information regarding your loan amount and home preferences and begin to do thorough searches so that you can view all of the choices available to you.

4. Become a Preferred Buyer! Homes can move onto and off of the market very quickly and multiple offers are extremely common, so it is of great importance that you position yourself as a "Preferred Buyer" to get your offer accepted. You enhance the acceptance of your offers by working with your Complete Realty agent to become a "Prefereed Buyer" by doing the following:

Get pre-approved for the purchase. Complete Realty agents will obtain a pre-approval for you.
Be prepared to preview a new property quickly.
Homes sell sometimes in hours. Be prepared to make decisions quickly and be accessible to change the terms instantly.
Buyer and agent need to have instant communication access. You and your Complete Realty agent must maintain instant access to each other via office phone, voice mail, fax, pager or cellular phone. All Complete Realty Agents have cell phones with text messaging.
Submit a strong competitive offer.
Submit the offer as if there will be multiple offers.
Include substantial earnest money deposit, usually a minimum of $500. Acceptance of an offer is sometimes determined by the amount of the deposit. A larger amount may signify a bigger commitment to the seller.
Minimize or eliminate contingencies; the fewer contingencies, the stronger the offer.

5. The Purchase
After finding that perfect home for your family, you and your agent determine the offer price, how much you want to put down and determine what conditions of the contract (closing date, move in time, what stays with the home, etc.) best suit your needs. If you are working through us to get your loan, we will provide the Loan Pre-Approval Letter; otherwise, your lender will provide that to you to give to us when we submit the offer.

We will create the offer and send to you for your review and signature. You will send the signed document back to us and we will send the offer to the listing agent, For Sale By Owner or builder. We then negotiate to get you and the seller together on the price and terms.

If the Seller accepts your offer, he will sign off on the paperwork and send it back to us. Once your offer is accepted, you will write two checks: one for the Earnest Money (usually a minimum of $500) to the title company and another for the Option Period Fee (usually between $50-$100) to the Seller. The Earnest Money is good faith money indicating your serious intention to purchase the home. The Option Period Fee gives you the right to take a few days (we’ll negotiate the number of days) to get the home inspected and think about the purchase. Should you, for any reason during the Option Period decide that you don’t want to purchase the home, you can cancel the contract and have your Earnest Money refunded back to you. In that event, the Option Period Fee is forfeited to the Seller. If you do purchase the home, the Earnest Money and the Option Period Fee is credited to your closing costs if specified in your initial offer. We at Complete Realty always specify that both are credited at closing.

6. Option Period
If specified in your offer always specified with a Complete Realty agent if it is available. (sometimes not available with some builder contracts)). One of the main reasons to work with a Complete Realty agent when working with builders is the fact most builders use their own contracts which may limit your options unless completely understood. Regardless,during the option it is adviced that we get you scheduled for an inspection. Also, make sure that your financing process has started and you are kept informed of the progress.

7. Review the Inspection
We will examine the inspection report with you. If needed, we will discuss any concerns or repairs that may be required and renegotiate with you and before the option period is over.

8. Prepare for Closing
We will ensure copies of the contract are delivered to the title company.
We will work with your financing or loan company to insure all necessary documnets are received.
At this time it is also important that you decide on your insurance company and relate insurance coverage to your lender. You will need to update your information with your lender at this time. Current paycheck stubs and recent bank statements. In some cases your lender may ask for additional documents to verify eligability.

9. Final Walk-Thru
We will do a final walk-thru of the property to make sure that all repairs were to your satisfaction and there are no other issues.

10. Final Document Check
We will make sure your lender and the title company have all necessary paperwork and there are no issues to contend with. If there are, we will work with all parties to get them resolved in a timely manner.

11. Closing at Title
A Complete Realty agent will go to closing with you at the title company (unless you prefer not or it is a courtesy closing out of the area). You will need to bring a copy of your driver's license to closing and a cashiers' check or money order for the total closing cost if there are any. The title agent will explain the documents and have you sign each document as they are explained. Your title agent will then make copies for you and forward to all interested parties.

12. Funding and Ownership
The lender wires the money and you receive the keys to your new home. You are now one the the proud Americans that live the dream of home ownership and have begun investing in your families future.

Congratulations from all of us at Complete Realty