The Buying Process

Step 2: Prepare Your Finances

Before you begin your home search, you’ll want to make sure your financial house is in order. Take into account your income, savings, monthly expenses, credit score and debt-to-income ratio. This will help you determine what you’ll be able to afford and what you can realistically contribute to your down payment and closing costs. It’ll also help you prepare for the mortgage application process.  

Check out our home affordability calculator to get an idea of what you’ll be able to budget for your monthly mortgage payments.

Pre-approval means that you’ll complete a mortgage application and the lender will conduct a financial background check that verifies your income and creditworthiness. This process is a bit more involved and requires an extensive look at your financial house as a whole. Once you’re pre-approved, the lender will provide you with a pre-approval letter that offers a specific loan amount for up to 90 days.  

Pro tip: We recommend getting pre-approved for a mortgage before you begin the home search. This shows the seller that you’re serious about making an offer and can give you a competitive advantage over other potential buyers. To speed up the process, we work with top-rated lenders who are committed to finding the right loan for you with competitive rates and low down payments. 

Step 5: Make An Offer & Negotiate the Purchase 

It’s official—you’ve decided on the home that makes your heart sing and are ready to take it off the market! Before you submit an offer, we’ll conduct a comparative market analysis of homes that are currently listed or have recently sold in your desired area. Then, we’ll share valuable insights and advise you on how to make a reasonable offer that’s attractive to sellers in a competitive market.   

After you’ve made an offer, the seller will accept, decline or counter your offer by adding new terms to the sales and purchase agreement. 

It’s important to know that counter offers are very common and can go back and forth. Aside from price, we may negotiate other factors like closing costs and timeline, repairs and upgrades, contingencies, home warranties, appliances and fixtures. At the Haley Garcia Group, we use our proven strategies and deep market expertise to successfully lead our clients through negotiation.

Step 7: Get a Home Inspection 

Great news: the seller has accepted your offer and you’ve both signed the sales and purchase agreement. The home is now in escrow. During this stage, you’ll hire a home inspector to conduct a thorough examination of the property. 

What do home inspectors look for? Home inspectors look for major repairs and safety issues that can cause potential problems in the future. 

Step 8: Get a Home Appraisal & Request a Title Search 

Your lender will require a home appraisal after the inspection to determine the actual market value of your home. The appraiser will review your home’s sale history and analyze recent sale prices of comparable homes in the area. The appraisal is essentially an evaluation that keeps the lender from loaning you more money than the home is actually worth. This is helpful to you in the long run!

A title search verifies that the seller is the sole owner of the home. This protects your property and prevents anyone else from trying to claim ownership of your home in the future! Keep in mind that many lenders also require buyers to take out homeowner’s insurance as a condition for loan approval.

Step 10: Close the Deal

It’s closing time—you’ve reached the finish line! Together we’ll conduct a final walkthrough of your new home, sign all paperwork and pay all closing costs and escrow funds. At this point, the home’s title will be officially transferred to your name and you’ll receive keys to your new home.