10 Critical Steps to Home Buying from Long Distance – Part II
April 20th, 2008 categories: Relocating
This is the “meat and potatoes” of buying a new home, and when you begin, the fun part! On a daily basis, as you head out to look, make sure you begin with a good game plan of what type of home you want to look at and where you prefer to live. While this makes sense, there are times when the anticipation of looking gets in the way of developing a good plan for the home search. It is important to limit the number of homes you’re looking at in a day. If you look at too many homes, they begin to run together, and you can’t remember one from another. It’s a good idea to use a checklist form to help you track the properties you have seen. It is also helpful to actually begin to narrow down the properties after each visit. For example, if house #3 was better than house #2, immediately eliminate house #2. Remember, communication with your agent is crucial. It’s important to let your agent know which houses you like and why, as well as which houses you don’t like and why. Sometimes it takes going out and looking one time before you and your agent really have a good grip on exactly what you’re looking for. Call your agent, and have him/her do the research on any advertised properties that look interesting to you. That’s what agents get paid for.
5. Select a home
Once you’ve narrowed your search down to one or two homes that you really like, your agent will do whatever research necessary to help you make your decision, but the decision will ultimately be yours. And surprisingly enough, it’s going to be a pretty easy decision to make. While buyers are welcome to call the local chambers of commerce for any statistics in which they might be interested, or the local zoning and planning offices for future road plans, etc., in todays market, and, even in a slower maket, the best homes are the first to be sold. So, once you’ve located a home(s), work closely with your Realtor to determine the timing for a possible offer. Additionally, once you’ve selected one home to focus on, your agents will do a comparative market analysis on that property. This involves determining “fair market value” by looking at what other buyers were willing to pay for properties similar to yours in the same neighborhood or area.
6. Making an offer & negotiation
When making an offer on a property, it is important to decide ahead of time how much you are willing to pay at what terms for the house. You already know what fair market value is. Now you have to decide what price you will offer; how much deposit you will offer; what personal property you wish to have convey (everything is negotiable); when you plan to close; and what inspections you plan to have conducted. When negotiating with any seller, it’s best to remember not to take anything personally. Also, try to put yourself in the seller’s shoes. Figure out what’s not negotiable to you, and be willing to give a little on the things that are negotiable. A good agent should be able to give you very good advice about how to structure your offer. Once your offer has been presented, the seller will either accept your offer outright, reject your offer outright, or counter your offer. The counter process can go back and forth many times. It’s important for all parties to keep their cool and focus on the goal. Remember to trust your agent’s judgment, they have been through this before. 
7. Get inspections & remove conditions
If, as part of your offer, you asked for time to be allowed to have inspections conducted on the property, you should have written what is called a conditional offer. Offers can be conditional upon financing, inspections, the receipt of acceptable condo estoppels certificates, the sale of property, and many other conditions. It is important that all deadlines be met and that all conditions are removed exactly the way the contract describes. Your agents are responsible for making sure this is done correctly. However, in a busy market, these conditions may also be used by the seller as reasons to deny your offer. So, keep this in mind as you consider the conditions you use.
8. Walk-through
Most sales agreements will give the buyer the right to one pre-closing inspection. This is your last chance to find any problems and have the seller correct them. Read the contract carefully, but most contracts read that all electrical systems, plumbing, appliances, heating, and air conditioning need to be in working order at the time of closing. These are the items you checking for at walk-through. You are also checking for any other items the seller previously agreed to fix or replace. If anything is found to be defective or missing, you have several options: The seller can remedy the problem prior to closing; the seller can credit you the amount of money it would take to hire someone to remedy the problem; or the seller can promise to correct the problem and place into escrow with the attorney or settlement agent the amount of money you will need to pay someone else if the seller does not perform as promised.On new-home purchases, the process is a little different. The builder will generally do a walk-through with you approximately one to two weeks prior to closing, resulting in a “punch-out list.” Hopefully, they will get everything on the punch-out list completed prior to settlement. If not, most new-home contracts allow the builder to complete whatever minor items have been noted in a “reasonable” period of time.
9. Closing on your home – settlement
This is the day you “sign your life away,” as most clients say. Not really. You will be signing all of the mortgage documentation, which can seem never-ending. The lawyer or settlement agent conducting the settlement should be able to explain every document to you in a satisfactory manner. Also, your agent should be able to clarify any questions you may have. Do not ever feel intimidated? If you don’t understand something, then don’t sign. Your lawyer/settlement agent will help you understand everything. If you like, you can request blank copies of the documents you will be signing in advance so that you can carefully review them. You will have to present whatever down payment and closing-cost funds you were expected to pay. This check must be certified; personal checks usually are not accepted.
10. Moving day
This is the last and probably the hardest step in the home-buying process. A little bit of planning and forethought, though, will make for a much smoother move. You will want to make arrangements with a moving company as soon as you can. Of course, for those in the DoD or military family, there’s always the hepful Transportation Management Office (TMO) to assist us in coordinating with the moving company and procedures. For those making arrangements with the moving compnay wthout the assistance of DoD, then your Realtor can be a good source for a recommendation. They may know who can best do the job. They will usually ask to come to your home to get an idea of how much they will be moving and the distance they will need to travel. Be sure to change your address with the post office, your banks, and any creditors at least 30 days in advance. To avoid late payments, it’s a good idea to actually call and verify receipt of the address change whenever possible. Call to order your utility hook-ups approximately 10 days prior to your move. Just make sure you do the planning and calling well in advance.
Finally, remember that whether it’s questions at the settlement table, what lender to choose, or how much to offer on a home, your Real Estate agent can provide you with the best advice available. They have the experience and knowledge to make home buying enjoyable, and relatively, pain free!
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Stacey Derbinshire
Good article. World is more and more globalized. I am dealing with Toronto condos and number of deals from distance is rising. Foreign companies, workers from abroad, immigrants – their numbers are rising and everybody wants property.