What is the home buying process all about?

What is the home buying process all about? Where do you start?
Your Agent: First you need a good, honest and very knowledgeable Realtor. Someone like me for instance, who has sold homes in the area you are looking in for a good long time, knows the market very well and can give you good feedback. An experienced agent, like me, can help interpret that “disclosure package” for you and have good recommendations for scheduling your Wood Destroying Pests and Organisms inspection and your contractor inspection. Explain what title insurance is and why you need it. A good agent, like me, will be able to explain the purchase contract in ways you will be able to understand and provide you with an accurate timeline for satisfying contingencies within the contract.
So, this is how it goes down:
Initial consultation with a Realtor to define relationships, determine wants and needs, discuss financial qualifications and lenders, and fill out a basic worksheet
Loan Qualification: this is a big step and one you should do before looking at homes. I will give you recommendations of Loan Officers I know who can provide you with good service and reliable information. There are a lot of charlatans out there who will lure you in with the promise of some super low rate but when it comes time to deliver, they rarely can. Staying close to your Realtor’s advice will keep you away from the pitfalls, and having a pre- approval letter from a direct lender like a bank also helps to make your offer stand out.
Home shopping: Tour properties that meet most of your qualifications. In the San Francisco market, because of the scarcity in some neighborhoods and varying housing styles it may be wise to remain somewhat flexible about some needs.
Making the offer: I will sit down with you and prepare the offer. I will discuss with you the contingencies and the disclosures that are due from the seller. If a disclosure package was supplied prior to writing the offer we will go over the disclosure package and sign off on them. Signing off on any inspections does not preclude you from having your own inspections. In fact, I highly recommend that you have your own inspections.
I then present the offer to the listing agent and in some cases directly to the seller. The offer has a 24 hour acceptance window for the seller to accept, counter your offer or reject it.
When your offer gets accepted we will open escrow at the title company. You will deposit your 3% initial deposit at the title company. The title company holds the money “in escrow” until closing.
Final Loan approval: You then will contact your loan officer and let him/her know that you have an accepted offer. The loan officer will order the appraisal and tell you what documents he still needs from you to complete your file.
I will get the loan officer a copy of the fully executed offer, and give him or her, the title company information and the name of the
escrow officer. The title company will send to the loan officer a copy of the Preliminary title report.
Inspections and other contingencies: I also schedule appointments for inspections according to your schedule. Most inspections are done during the week during regular business hours. It is highly recommended that you attend your own inspections. You will gain knowledge of your new home through another set of eyes.
Escrow Period: During the escrow period of usually 30 days you will be having inspections, reviewing the reports, removing contingencies, reviewing additional documents and you will also need to get homeowners insurance, accept of course, if it’s a condominium. The bank will require that you have it in place when you close.
The Closing: Once your loan is fully approved the bank will draw up all the documents to close on the loan. That is the Note and Deed of trust and other documents that support the loan. Once the loan documents are drawn the bank sends them to the title company. When the title company receives them the escrow officer will call me to help schedule an appointment for you to come in to sign. At this time she will also be able to prepare an estimated closing statement for your review. The closing statement will have an estimate of the final amount you need to bring to close on the property. The funds need to be in a cashier’s check or you can wire transfer them into the title company. If you elect to do a wire transfer I will get you the information to give to your bank or you will get it directly from the escrow officer. At the appointment you will need to bring identification, i.e. driver’s license or passport.
Recording and Getting Keys:: When you have signed everything the escrow officer will provide you with a copy of everything you signed. Once she has your funds and the banks funds she can reconcile the account and distribute the money to the seller and refund any money you may have paid in excess of what was finally required. When that is completed the escrow officer releases the deed to record. The deed is recorded and you now own the home and you receive the keys. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!