Making An Offer                              

You will be making an “offer to purchase”. This will begin the negotiation to secure ownership of your new home. An “offer” is not a contract. An offer becomes a contract when all parties agree to all the terms and conditions.  Within the offer there are three critical areas for you consider:

 
1. Making an Offer to Purchase.As you know, the terms, conditions and fine print can be a bit daunting. However, I REPRESENT and WORK for YOU!   I will go over, with you, all the terms of the offer.
PRICE:Fair Market Value is the price both a well informed buyer and a well informed seller agree to in the terms of the contract. You will be given information up-front, before you make the offer, about the home, the neighborhood, and the values of the surrounding properties recently purchased by other buyers. Additionally your lender will require you to pay for an independent appraiser to assess and ratify the price you are willing to pay. Both you and the lender have an interest, a stake, in the value of your new home. The appraiser will consider the recent sales of the surrounding properties most like the one you wish to buy. In other words, you will be given the same information as the appraiser in order to help you make an informed decision as to Fair Market Value.

DATES: There are the two important dates: Closing and Possession.
The closing or settlement date is the day you sign documents and bring in your down payment cashier’s check, if required. Possession date is the date you move in. Both these dates are equally critical to the seller as well as to you. The seller will receive his money 1-2 days after your closing, and will then give possession of the property to you – usually within 2-3 days later. After all, the seller wants to be sure he has his money before he turns the keys over to the you the new buyer.

CONDITION: You will have several methods and opportunities to determine the condition of the property: 1.) your own inspection when you view the home, 2.) the whole house inspection , conducted by the professional home inspector of your choice, 3.) and the appraiser who verifies the price and overall condition of the property. Although you may be buying a re-sale, or pre-owned property, you may decide to address minor fix-up and repairs yourself (to ensure proper workmanship) or attempt to negotiate an agreeable resolution of issues revealed in those inspections. We will guide you through this process and can offer the names of various maintenance, service/ contractors or handymen for you to hire to expedite the process to close.

2. Three Options for the S e l l e r when considering your offer.A. Accept the offer exactly as presented… and the home is SOLD! Yours!
B. Reject the offer.
C. Make a counter offer/proposal – changes to the inital offer, i.e. price, personal property, closing or possession dates, etc. This is the most common occurrence. The negotiating period may take a few days. The property remains on the market during this time and is still available to other prospective buyers. By making your best offer with a PRE-APPROVAL letter of commitment from your lender. you enhance your bargaining position by arranging financing in advance.

3. Delivery Of The Contract
A copy of the finalized contract will be delivered to both buyer and seller by me acting as your agent

4. Finalizing All Conditions
After full agreement and signatures are made on all documents, you will need to finalize you lender application for the mortgage loan as soon as possible. You will have a set number of days to procure the loan, as stated in the contract.