Understanding the Process

What is the Home Buying Process?

Buying a home is an exciting decision and if you’ve never bought a home before you might be wondering what is the home buying process?  As a Realtor with over 30 years of experience selling homes in Canon City, Colorado, I’ve put together this guide to help you get started as you look into buying a home in Canon City. ­

Your Guide to Buying a Home

Get Pre-Qualified
The first step in the home buying process, even if you already own a home, is to get pre-qualified and have your credit report pulled.  Getting pre-qualified only takes about 15-30 minutes and it will tell you exactly how much you can spend on a new home, how much money you will need out of pocket and your credit report will identify if there are any issues that need to be worked through before you can buy.  We work with the best mortgage professionals in town so if you need a recommendation, don’t hesitate to ask us for a referral.

Your Ideal House
Before you start looking at houses, make a list of “must haves,” such as location, floorplan, minimum number of bedrooms and bathrooms that you require. Also, create a list of features you’d like the home to have but are willing to compromise on, such as fireplaces, walk-in closets, or mountain views.  If you have a significant other make sure that you’ve come to agreement on what is a must have versus what is nice to have.  Once you’ve got your list together we can setup an automated search that sends you the homes that match your criteria as they come on the market.  Or, you can start browsing, right here on our website’s Canon City home search page.

Look at Properties
As you identify homes that pique your interest, call us and we’ll schedule appointments with the homeowners to look at them. 

Make Your Offer
When you’ve found “the one”, I’ll prepare a market analysis of the property to determine what is the right price to offer based on current market conditions.  This step is important to ensure you don’t overpay for the home.  Then, I’ll work with you to prepare an offer, explaining the Colorado real estate contract, the details of what you are offering as well as all of the contingencies.

Contract
After we’ve negotiated the contract and your offer is accepted my team and I will go to work to make sure that all of the dates and deadlines in the contract are met.  This includes sending the contract to your lender, reviewing all of the documentation related to the house, ensuring that the inspection, appraisal and loan contingencies are done on time and negotiating any issues that arise as we go through the purchase.

Get an Inspection
Once you are under contract, you will want to have your home inspected to look for issues that may not be noticeable to the untrained eye.  Even brand new homes should be inspected. Inspectors in Colorado are not licensed or regulated but many good inspectors are either ASHI or NAHI certified.  If you need a recommendation, my team and I work with many reputable inspectors and are happy to refer them.

Closing
Once all of the contingencies are met and your loan is approved, we’ll go to closing.  Prior to the closing we’ll do a final walk through of the property to ensure any inspection items were taken care of and to ensure the property is in the same condition as when you wrote your offer.  At the closing of the sale, you’ll sign the loan documents and real estate purchase documents.  Closing typically takes about an hour and then you get the keys to your new home.

The whole process from the time your offer is accepted until the time you close can typically be done within 30 days but you’ll want to allow more time to ensure your lender can accommodate a 30 day closing. 

We hope that this high level overview of the home buying process has been helpful to you.  If you feel like you now have more questions than when you started don’t hesitate to call us.  We are happy to help you understand the nuances of buying a home. 

Buying a home in Canon City, CO

If you’re ready to buy a home in Canon City, we are here to help you..  Our home buying services include helping you to:

• Find the right lender,
• Find the perfect home for your budget and lifestyle,
• Determine a negotiation strategy,
• Prepare, submit and negotiate an offer,
• Work through the contingencies of the contract,
• Get to the closing table.

No matter if you’re a first time home buyer, looking to buy a second property, or need a home to spend your golden years, my team and I will be right by your side to help you find your perfect home.  Call my office today to get started buying your Canon City home.