Nations Realty LLC - Home Buying Timeline

Contact Us:

24860 Pacific Highway S., Suite 102

Kent, WA 98032

P (253) 945-0808 | F (253) 945-0809

info@nationsrealtyllc.com

Your Home Buying Timeline

BUYER CHECKLIST

Preparation — One Week

• Call mortgage broker or lender to get pre-approved.

• If you don’t have a lender, call us and we will recommend one.

• Follow up with lender with a meeting; bring financial items.

• Meet and review credit issues; get plan of action.

• Get an approval letter and have it faxed to us.

• Call to set up an appointment with real estate agent to review the home-buying process and give your home-search criteria.

Home-Search Phase — Two to Three Weeks

• Give agent your wish list for a home, location, etc.

• Search the Internet with him on the available homes in your price range and area you want to live in.

• Take list of homes from the search and drive by, check out the neighborhood.

• Select your Top 5 from the list.

• Call your agent to set a time to view the interior of the Top 5.

• Select the one you want to buy.

• Make an offer—sign a Purchase and Sales Agreement (contract). The contract contains several pages, including a Financing Addendum, Optional Clauses, Inspection form, Lead-Based Paint Disclosure forms, Utilities request, and State Law Agency disclosures.

Negotiations Phase — One to Two Weeks

• Your offer will be presented to the seller.

• The seller will have 24 to 48 hours to respond.

• If they change anything in the contract—price, closing date, earnest money, etc., we will call you and review it with you. If you agree on the changes, we will have you come in and initial the changes and send it back as a mutual acceptance.

• If you don’t agree, we will send it back with your changes and your initial by those changes and wait for a response within 24 hours.

• Once the contract has been signed by all parties and is accepted, copies are sent to your lender to start the Financing Phase.

Inspection Phase — Two Weeks

• Your next step will be to arrange for a Home Inspection, unless you waived the right to an inspection in the contract. The usual time to get an inspection done and notify the seller of any work that needs to be done is 10 days.

• You may request a list of inspectors to call for prices and availability.

• Inspections take about 3 – 4 hours to complete and review. You should arrange to be at the inspection. Costs range from $250 – $400, depending on the company.

• Once the inspection is done, you will send a notice to the seller with your request for work that is needed, if any.

• The seller will review it and respond.

• You will review the seller’s response and act accordingly.

• At this point, you may decide to go ahead with the transaction or decline.

• Your earnest money will be deposited with the Escrow Company within three days if you go ahead, or it will be returned to you if you cancel the transaction.

Financing Phase — Three to Four Weeks

• Your lender will receive a copy of the Purchase and Sales Agreement (contract).

• Your lender will call to get an appointment and get more detailed credit information from you in order to complete your loan process. It is very important that you respond quickly to your lender’s requests so that there is no delay in finalizing your home purchase.

• You should request an estimate of your house payment, taxes and other costs in a Good Faith Estimate from your lender. Have a copy of it faxed to your Real Estate Agent.

• Your lender will order a title and appraisal on the home to be purchased. After receiving those reports and if there are no problems, documents for your home purchase will be ordered and sent to the lender’s underwriter for review.

• After the documents have been reviewed and approved, they are sent to the Escrow Company where you will be called for an appointment to sign the final documents.

• You may or may not be asked to bring in money to finalize your transaction, depending on the loan program and if the seller agreed to pay any closing costs.

• Once you have signed all the documents at escrow, they will be sent back to the lender for a final review, and the lender will release the documents to record the title of the home in your name.

• After the documents have been released to record, they are sent to the county to be officially recorded in your name.

• Once the documents have been recorded in your name, you will receive the keys to your new home from your agent by 9 p.m. the next day.

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