First you should decide if you should buy a home now. Careful examining your financial condition is a must. The advantages of owning and renting are:

Advantage of owning
      The possible equity growth
      The stability that comes with having ownership in a community
      Possible tax advantages

Advantage of renting
      More mobile lifestyle         [Go To Top]

How much can you afford to buy a home?
Before begin looking for a home, you should make an analysis on how much you can afford to buy a home. We can help to pre-approved your loan often within hours. The pre-approval is for your benefits because:

It tells you how much house you can afford.
And it assures the seller that you can afford to buy their home.       [Go To Top]

Finding Your Home
First, identify neighborhoods and features that you want and are in your price range. Next, begin searching your home. Here, we can save you time by helping you target homes that meet your search criteria quickly. Our automatic home alert can even email you when properties come on the market that meet your search criteria. Then, begin visiting homes in person. We can arrange visits for you and can also accompany you to the open houses. Besides comparing homes with features, you should also determine if the houses have any encumbrances, special taxes, assessments or homeowners association dues that could affect your expenses.
Once you have a home that you are interested in, you should review various reports available, such as transfer disclosure statement, termite, environment, earthquake, flood zone, fault zone, CC&Rs etc.   [Go To Top]

Making an Offer
After you have decided on a certain property, you can make an offer to purchase. You should research what other properties in the neighborhood have sold for prior to a decision of price. We can be a valuable source for this information. One area where you need to be very careful is contingencies or special conditions that you desire in the contract. For example, obtaining your loans, or accepting the inspected properties may be your contingencies. (A qualified inspector to evaluate the home is recommended. After the inspection, you may also negotiate any necessary repairs or ,if allowed, resend the contract.)

Prior to your signing of the offer, your real estate agent is required to provide you with a written disclosure stating whom he or she represents in the transaction. Another disclosure is completed by the seller and covers the known material defects about the property and a variety of common issues that might affect the value or desirability of the property. You should thoroughly review the contract before signing it and make certain that you understand it. This might also be a good time to consider purchasing a home protection plan.       [Go To Top]

Inspection & Insurance
After your offer is accepted you will need to set up, coordinate and interpret various inspections. You will also need to arrange for homeowners insurance and finalize the mortgage. There are two disclosures with the mortgage:

The Truth in Lending Statement will provide you with important details on the terms and conditions of the mortgage including the amount financed, the finance charge, as well as the annual percentage rate.

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). RESPA requires detailed broker and lender good faith estimates regarding settlement and closing costs to be provided within three days after you apply for a loan.
RESPA also requires a HUD Uniform Settlement Statement that provides you with a detailed accounting of actual disbursements and closing costs upon the completion of your loan transaction.

There may be many potential problems that are discovered during this period. For example, there may be a leaky roof, termite damage, a foundation problem, and wall cracks etc. These issues need to be settled between buyer and seller. We can help make the discussions go more smoothly. You will also have the option of a "walk through" before the closing. This is your last chance to make sure that all of the items that you have agreed upon were completed to your satisfaction.              [Go To Top]

The Final Closing
At the closing the buyer signs the loan documents, and pays the balance of the transaction, and the seller signs and conveys title to the property. Before you arrive at the closing, make sure all the necessary paper work and deposits have been completed. The closing may not happen on time if necessary documents are not ready. And, depending on what the contract says, this could result in further action.        [Go To Top]

Once you close, you are now a proud homeowner!