Purchasing a Home

Purchasing a home should be a very pleasant and exciting time. By working together as a team, it's possible to eliminate the stress from the process. Our goal is to assist you with financing, negotiating, inspections, and deadlines. And, more importantly, educate and inform you of our local market so your time commitment of viewing homes is used efficiently and effectively.

By representing you as a buyer's agent we can thoroughly search the market for the best value for you, prepare a comparable market analysis, assist you in negotiating strategies, and track inspections and deadlines to facilitate a successful close on your new home.

Financing & Pre-Approval

A home is a major purchase. By speaking with a local lender and applying for pre-approval, all your financing concerns – from down payment, closing costs, monthly payment and timing – can be answered – eliminating a major element of stress.

Not only does pre-approval answer your questions, but also allows you a stronger negotiating position when making an offer on a home of your choice, especially if there are competing offers.

We can suggest several lenders in our marketplace. Our lenders are prepared to work with you via phone or e-mail. Please contact me at (217) 840-5459 for suggestions.

Getting Acquainted with the Market

Market awareness is an extremely important step in securing the right home. Early in the process, we will set up an automatic search to email or send information on properties that meet your criteria. By doing so, you will become acquainted with the market value of these homes.

As your buyer's agent, we will actively search our MLS listings, any For Sale By Owner properties that might be of interest, and even homes that may not be on the market.

By the time you are actually ready to start viewing homes, you will have a strong market awareness, will have pre-approval, and will feel comfortable with making a wise decision on the home of your choice. Keep in mind that we do a market analysis for you at this time, to further assure you of the value of your home choice.

Viewing Homes

When the time is appropriate for you, we'll coordinate times to view those homes of interest. In viewing homes, we'll determine a “criteria list” of those features important to you. Each home may have positive and negative features that affect your lifestyle and we will take those into consideration.

Typically, in our area, once a contract is accepted, closing and possession follow 30-60 days thereafter. Our market time varies from spring to winter, so you will want to be aware of a fast moving market as opposed to a slower market. Each will affect your decision process and negotiating power differently.

Making an Offer

When you decide the time is right and you've found the right house, we will sit down with a sales contract and discuss an offer to propose. We will walk you through all the terms of the contract, as sometimes there are other factors to consider beyond price. We will also discuss what price to offer by considering your pre-approval, the condition of the home, the listing price, and the strength of the market.

At this point we will present the contract directly to the seller's agent. Response on an offer can be immediate. The sellers will have the option to accept, refuse, or counter-offer. They will be contacting us regarding this, and we will contact you with any information immediately. If a counter-offer comes in, we will meet again to go over all the terms. As always, we will use our 25 years of experience to guide you through this process and make it as smooth as possible.

Inspections

Some sellers choose to have an inspection completed prior to listing their home. This eliminates a lot of questions. If your home of choice has not already been inspected, we would strongly recommend you as a buyer hiring a licensed inspector. We can recommend several.

As a buyer you should use diligence to inspect the property prior to making an offer. If there are obvious repairs that need to be done, we should address those in the initial offer. There are limitations on repair items that a seller will agree to handle or be responsible for as per the sales contract. www.ASHI.com is a good source of information on inspections. Of course, we must meet the deadlines identified in the sales contract.

The license inspector can also provide tips on routine maintenance. Once the inspection is completed and reviewed, the appropriate request for repairs is presented to the seller. Negotiations may continue on the inspection repairs.

The Closing

Within 24 hours of the closing, we'll do a final walk-thru to be sure the condition of the home is as it should be. The seller should have all belongings removed, all repairs completed and the home in broom clean condition. You'll want to contact the utility companies to have the electric, gas, and water placed in your name and you will need to have one year's homeowner's insurance in place. Your bank will advise you of the funds you will need to bring to closing along with proper ID.

You may wish to have an attorney represent you at closing. You will sign all the mortgage documents and settlement sheet, transfer the funds, and receive all the keys and thus possession of the home.

It's time to move in. Home Sweet Home.