Buying Expalained

First find a good Realtor! A Realtor does much more than find you the perfect home. They write the contract, organize the escrow deposits and disbursements, order and review inspections, appraisals, and generally act as a go between for all parties to make sure the transaction closes smoothly. If you live overseas you really need a good Realtor. Of course we hope that you will choose us. But you must have a good relationship with them, it is important that your Realtor understands and listens to what you want, and can advise you on what is best for you in your individual situation. Realtors only make commission when they sell a property; they do not make any salary, so please if you are just window shopping because it is too cloudy to go to the beach, it might be better to just look at the brochures. Also once you have found a good Realtor stick to them and don’t use three or more at the same time. There is a lot of work involved in finding you that ideal home and your Realtor deserves to get paid for doing the leg work.

Get pre-approved for a loan. This normally can take just an hour, but for overseas clients it can take days, so plan a head. Having a good idea of how much you can afford and the different types of loans is important. The cost of the same loan amount using different programs can vary immensely. A good Realtor will help you find the right financing and will submit your pre approval letter with any offer you make. Look on my section for financing to see what documents you will need.

Give your Realtor both positive and negative feedback of all the properties you see. That gives them a better idea of what you are looking for, and makes that dream home a step closer. Be patient, new properties come on to the market all the time. Good properties sell quickly, so after you figure out exactly what you want if you find it move quickly.

Once you have found your perfect home, your Realtor will write up a contract and go over it with you. You will have to submit a deposit with the offer to show good faith. There are several forms to fill out so be prepared to go to the office for an hour or so.

Your Realtor will then call the listing agent to let them know your offer is on the way. The offer is then faxed over and submitted to the seller. Your Realtor will call you as soon as he or she finds out if your offer was accepted or not. The seller may ask for more money than you were offering, or different terms. It is possible that the seller has more than one offer to consider. It is your Realtor’s job to do the negotiating, make the phone calls, and relieve you of as much stress as possible during the whole process.

Once the contract has been agreed upon and signed by both parties it becomes binding. That date is referred to as the ‘effective date’. All the dates and timing listed in the contract start from the ‘effective date’. There are a few ways to cancel a contract without losing your deposit. Firstly there is a financing clause so that if you are unable to obtain the amount of financing required within the stated time you can walk away from the deal. If the property does not appraise for the amount you need to finance, or lastly if during the inspection a problem is found and the owners are either unable or unwilling to fix the problem you can renegotiate the price you will offer, or cancel the contract.

If you just change your mind, you may loose all of your deposit. That is why sellers want a pre-approval letter and a good size deposit when you make the offer.

If you are financing the purchase, you will have to formally apply for a loan showing the accepted contract signed by both parties. Once again your Realtor can fax all the necessary paperwork to the mortgage broker, and answer any questions about the property that any interested party has. You will have to submit a further deposit to go into escrow as stated on the contract. Normally 5% is sufficient for resales but 10-30% may be necessary for new construction. This may have to be wired directly to an account if you do not have a US bank account to write a US Dollar check from.

Your Realtor will order any inspections you may need and be there to let anyone into the property who needs access. He or she will also review them for you and go over any problem areas and explain how to remedy them. There a maybe Home owners association to join. You Realtor will collect any necessary forms for you to fill out and find out about the approval process for you.

You will need to change over any utilities into your name. Your Realtor will help you find all the necessary telephone numbers and be available if anyone has questions to be answered.

The day has arrived when you will close. It is good to be there in person to do a walk around inspection before you accept the property. If you can’t be there you can pay an inspector to do it for you. Sorry your Realtor cannot do it for you, they are not qualified. You do not have to go the ‘Title’ company in person as long as all the paperwork is signed. This is a good day for you because everything went smoothly because of the professional help of your Realtor. Another check is normally due to make up the difference between the deposit you have already paid, the financing you applied for, and the closing costs.

Now you need to buy furniture, moving vans, a handyman to put up your hurricane shutters, a painter, who are you going to call? You got it, your Realtor probably knows someone!!