I want to buy real estate.

Where Do I start?

Find a Realtor

Call or email us at info@Local-Property.com, and we can match you up with the person on our team who has the most expertise in the area and property type you are seeking, and who may be the best fit for your personality.  We are a low key, no pressure brokerage. Our goals are to help you with your property search in a fun and involved manner.Your Real Estate Agent can show you any listed property you find. 

For instance, if you see a yard sign posted on a home or property for sale and the sign indicates that Jane Smith with XYZ Realty is the contact for the property, you can call YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT to help you view the property.   

If you find a property on Zillow and you’d like more information about it. You can call YOUR AGENT to provide that information, and schedule a viewing of the property for you.

Your Agent will help you navigate the acquisition process from start to finish, from helping you locate resources so you can obtain the information you need, to finding a lender, scheduling home inspections, and so on.

How do I know what my price range is?

Find a lender (If you need financing).  Based on the information you provide to your Realtor, including property, amount of down payment, etc., he/she can provide you with some contacts at lending institutions who can help you identify the best type of loan product and prequalify you for a purchase.

Get Prequalified for a loan.

After contacting a lender, you’ll need to provide the lender with basic preliminary information, such as your overall financial picture, down payment information, your employment status and your credit history (good, average, poor).  Always remember that both you AND the property itself must meet your lender’s criteria in order to obtain a loan.

Initiate your Property Search with your Agent.

Provide your Realtor with the pre-qualification information from your lender.  This will give your Agent realistic parameters such as maximum purchase price and property type to aid in a productive property search.View properties with your Agent in order to gain an understanding of what the market is doing, and what types of properties fit within your parameters and your budget and how impactful property location is on pricing.

Make an Offer.

When you find a property of interest, your Realtor can help you determine what purchase price to offer by providing you with recent comparable sales, and identify comfortable conditions (called contingencies) you’d like to place on your offer.  An example of contingencies would be making your offer to purchase a home contingent on your ability to obtain reasonable financing for the property and obtaining satisfactory results from a home inspection.The offer will be written by your Realtor, signed by you, and presented to the seller’s agent by your Agent.  A good Agent will clearly articulate the strengths of your offer to the seller’s agent.

Negotiated/Accepted Offer.

Once the negotiations are complete and you have an accepted offer, you need to “open Escrow”.  Escrow is a financial account opened with a Title Company where the buyer places funds, called Earnest Money, that indicates to the seller the buyer has good faith and is operating “in earnest” to purchase the property.  It lets the Seller know that the Buyer is serious and has the ability to purchase. Escrow funds are refundable if the transaction fails to close, provided that the buyer does not violate any terms of the purchase and sale contract obligations.  If the transaction does close, the escrow funds are applied to the purchase of the property, typically as an offset to the down payment amount but other scenarios exist where escrow funds can be applied to closing costs.

Remove contingencies.

In your Offer to Purchase Real Estate, you and your Agent will have specified periods of time in which to remove the contingencies.  Your Realtor will help you with this process by coordinating the home inspection, if any, and helping you communicate applicable information to your lender in order to secure financing, and so forth.

Closing the Transaction and Taking Ownership.

Your Realtor will work with you to coordinate signing your loan documents (if any) and other purchase and sale documents, including reviewing and approving the Title Commitment for title insurance.

After both the buyer and seller have signed all documents required to complete the transaction, the title company will prepare the deed and deliver it to the county recorder’s office to be recorded into the public records of the county.  If you have a loan, a Deed of Trust, whereby the lender secures its lien on your property until your loan is repaid, is also recorded. From the time all parties sign to recordation of the deed can take from several hours to a few days depending on the physical location of the buyer and seller at the time of signing, courier time for all documents to reach the title company, release of funds from the lender to the title company, time of day that everything is received by the title company and recording hours at the county recorder’s office.

The Keys! 

Once recording takes place, your Realtor will be able to obtain the keys from the seller’s realtor and provide them to you, the new owner of the property.