What Happens After You’ve Signed a Contract to Buy a Home?

You’ve found the home you want to live in, you and the seller have come to terms, and you now have a signed contract. What happens next?

Here’s an overview of the things you need to do after you and the seller have signed the real estate contract:

1. Get answers to your questions: If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them. Sit down with your team of real estate professionals, including your agent, home inspector, and lender to get answers to all your questions. Keep asking questions until you completely understand every step of the process and all the paperwork.
2. Dive into the disclosure: Carefully review the disclosure documents to be sure you’re aware of any past or present problems.
3. Finalize your mortgage: You’ve already been pre-approved. Now’s the time to make a final decision on the type of loan you want and lock-in the interest rate you’ll pay.
4. Find out the results of the home appraisal: As the buyer of the home, you are entitled by federal law to a copy of the appraisal you paid for. Look over the appraisal and notify the lender of any errors that could have affected the appraiser’s opinion of the home’s value.
5. Have the property professionally inspected: It’s important that you attend the property inspection. It gives you the opportunity to see for yourself what the home inspector discovers. Also ask the inspector to show you where the major systems of the home are located and how they work.  Bring the list of disclosures so you can share them with the inspector to be sure those problems have been taken care of.
6. Attend the closing: The closing is the last step in the legal process of transferring ownership of the home from the seller to you.
7. Celebrate! All your hard work has paid off, and you can now enjoy your new home.

Would you like to work with a real estate agent who’ll be by your side every step of the way through this process? I’d be honored to be that real estate agent. Give me a call or email me to set up a time to talk.