Assemble Your Real Estate Team

Assemble Your Real Estate Team

Purchasing a home is a huge investment with many variables. It’s an obstacle course you’ll find tough to navigate on your own. You need the expertise of professionals who protect your interests as they take you through the process of finding a home, making an offer, getting financing, and finalizing the sale. There are several real estate professionals who’ll make up your home-buying team—real estate agents, mortgage provider, lawyer, and home inspector. In a hot market it is best to have these lined up in advance of looking for homes.  When the right house comes along, you will be well prepared to act quickly.

Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents are experts in local real estate: They monitor the market daily and look for housing trends (in prices, inventory, location, and so on). An agent tells you about available houses in your price range and takes you on tours of homes that interest you.

For sellers, a listing agent:

·        Researches recent sales of comparable homes to help determine an asking price

·        Helps sellers prepare their homes for sale

·        Lists the home with the Multiple Listing Service (known in the trade as the MLS, a searchable list of homes for sale within a particular region)

·        Advertises the home through various channels, which may include the Internet, social media and on-site advertising (the latter usually comprising a “For Sale” sign on the lawn and takeaway information sheets about the home)

·        Hosts open houses

·        Presents offers from interested buyers

·        Negotiates the terms of the sale

As a buyer, you can expect a real estate agent to work with you in these ways:

·        Listen to your priorities in looking for a home, including your price range

·        Contact listing agents to check availability and schedule showings

·        Show you suitable properties

·        Notify you as new properties appear on the market

·        Suggest sources of financing

·        Help you write a purchase offer and present that offer to the seller

·        Negotiate with the seller on your behalf

·        Write a purchase-and-sale agreement (Purchase Price)

·        Set up and attend the home’s inspection

·        Review disclosure statements and let you know about problems with a property

·        Deal with contingencies (Contingencies)

·        Provide information to your mortgage officer, real estate lawyer

·        Schedule the closing

·        Attend the pre-closing inspection

Your Mortgage Provider

Not many people have enough cash on hand to pay for a house. So an important member of your team is the mortgage provider who fronts the money that lets you buy the home. You may find financing through a mortgage broker or deal directly with a lender.

Working with a Mortgage Broker

Think of a mortgage broker as a matchmaker. But instead of helping people find their soulmates, a broker matches homebuyers and lenders. If you choose a mortgage broker, you work directly with her, and she acts as an intermediary between you and the lender.

Here’s what you can expect a mortgage broker to do:

·        Gather information about your finances, employment, and credit history (Your Home’s Loan-to-Value Ratio) and assess your eligibility for a mortgage based on that information

·        Identify loans from a variety of lenders that meet your needs

·        Present those loans to you, along with a clear explanation of how they work and what the terms mean

·        Help you get preapproved (What are your future plans?) for a mortgage

·        Help you apply for a mortgage, from gathering documentation to filling out the paperwork

·        Present your mortgage application to a lender

·        Keep track of all the conditions you must meet before closing, acting as a liaison between you and the lender, home appraiser, surveyor, various insurers, and so on

·        Facilitate the closing, making sure that all your documents are in order and that the lender transfers the funds

Working with a Mortgage Lender

Some homebuyers prefer to work directly with a lender. You might want to deal with a local bank or credit union that has a thorough understanding of your area, or you might prefer to use the Internet to research the best rates yourself (Get the Best Mortgage). If you go directly to a bank or other financial institution, you’ll deal with a loan officer. This person works with you just as a mortgage broker does, identifying appropriate loans, analyzing your financial information, and guiding you through the mortgage process from application through closing. Unlike a mortgage broker, who searches different lenders’ products to find you the best loans, a loan officer is employed by a particular lender. That means she’ll present only mortgages offered by that lender.

Your Real Estate Lawyer

Buying a home means scaling a small mountain of paperwork—over and over again, you have to sign your name on the bottom line. It’s essential to understand each and every piece of paper you sign. Your real estate agent and mortgage broker or loan officer can explain many of the contracts and forms involved in your transaction—but neither of these people is a lawyer. It’s a good idea to have a qualified real estate lawyer on your side to scrutinize the fine print, answer questions, and explain difficult concepts.

What a Lawyer can do for you

·        If you’re a first-time buyer, a real estate lawyer can give you peace of mind as you go through an unfamiliar and complex process. Here are some of the services a real estate lawyer provides:

·        Reviews the purchase agreement before you sign it and, if necessary, revises it. Or, if you already signed a purchase agreement and worry there’s a problem, please know that our Purchase and Sale Agreements in Nova Scotia have a clause allowing both the seller and buyer adequate time for their lawyer to review the contract.

·        Reviews (or in some cases performs) a title search for the property, which confirms that the seller is its legal owner.

·        Reviews all other legal documents related to the purchase, including the deed. If there are mistakes in the deed, such as misspelled names, the lawyer can correct them.

·        Prorates costs you split with the seller. For example, the seller may have prepaid 6 months worth of property taxes, and you have to reimburse her for that money from the date you take ownership.

·        Coordinates among agents, your mortgage broker or loan officer, the lender, and the seller’s lawyer to make sure all documents are ready for the closing.

Your Home Inspector

When you tour a home, it’s easy to notice the cosmetics—you like the carpet in the living room, but the kitchen cabinets have got to go. But how do you know whether the home’s foundation is solid and the central systems (electrical, heating/cooling, plumbing) work the way they should? No matter how well-maintained a home appears, it can hide problems that require a trained eye to spot.

A home inspector gives your prospective property a thorough going-over, from roof to foundation, checking the structure and its systems.

The Agreement of Purchase and Sale your real estate agents writes up should include a contingency that tells the seller the offer is valid only if you’re satisfied with the results of the home inspection. You should interview inspectors and choose the one you want to work with before you make an offer on a house. At busy times of the year or in areas where the real estate market is hot, you may find your preferred home inspector has a waiting list. Find an inspector and call her as soon as your offer is accepted.

Other Real Estate Professionals

By now you’ve met the main players. Here are some other professionals you might want on your home-buying team:

Accountant. Your accountant or tax preparer can clue you in on the tax breaks if any associated with buying a home.

Appraiser. Lenders need to know that a house is worth at least as much as you’re paying for it. An appraiser inspects the house and compares it to similar properties in the area to determine its worth.

Contractor. If you’re thinking about buying a fixer-upper or making significant renovations to a home, it’s a smart move to have a contractor estimate how much the repairs and renovations will cost before you submit an offer or make it a contingency in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale.

Insurance agent. As a condition of our standard agreements you will  need to prove to your lender that you’ve insured your property, so you need to find an insurance agent who specializes in homeowner’s insurance.