Buying a home involves having a smart home buying strategy and a few other crucial components that need to be handled with planning and care.
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What do you need to purchase a home?
Remember, buying a home is a process—not an event. Very few purchases in life take as long as buying a home. Most people think about their home purchase for many months before they actually do it, and you may spend some time searching before you find the right home.
This is why the first thing you need is a smart home buying strategy. This is something we develop with all of our buyer clients. There are several reasons this benefits you because there are some important things along the way you need to know about buying a home.
Sit down, develop a plan, and put a dream team together of people who will be involved in this transaction. This team should involve a buyer specialist, a great lender (of which we have many we can refer you to), a great title company, and a great inspector.
Make sure you hire a firm that represents you and your interests in this process. In many cases, buyers simply call the number listed on the ‘For Sale’ sign and whoever picks up gets their business. It’s important you don’t do this, because that listing agent has a legal fiduciary responsibility to tell the seller everything they find out about you, including how much you qualify to buy, how much down payment money you have, and what your current housing situation is. A buyer specialist, on the other hand, represents you and keeps all your information confidential.
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Buying a home is a process—not an event.
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After that, you’ll need a loan approval letter. For our clients, always secure their loan approval letters through one of our preferred lenders.
Once these things are in place, the home search begins. Your agent and their team should help you make sure the home you fall in love with matches the type of mortgage loan you have and all your finances look right. After you’ve found your home, you’ll write an offer for it and enter a period of negotiation. Once the property is under contract, you’re about halfway done.
At this point, you’ll need an earnest deposit check and enough money saved for a down payment and for your closing costs.
Finally, you’ll need the services of a great title company. In Kansas City, there’s not a better title company that I know of than Thompson Affinity Title. They close many of our clients’ transactions and they’re extremely competitive on their rates.
If you have any questions about the home buying process or you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in the Kansas City area, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help you.
