The Home Buying Process

10 Steps to Buying a Home in North King and Snohomish County
There are many things to consider when buying a home . Some of the most important steps to buying a home are:

Step 1: Learn the Home Buying Process

Start by learning as much as you can about how the home buying and mortgage application process works. Read as much as you can about buying a home. If you're a first time home buyer, check out the many books in your local library that offer hints to first time home buyers. Your agent can also provide you with valuable guidance.

Step 2: Find Out How Much You're Qualified to Borrow
It’s important to find out how much you can borrow before you start looking for a home. Your Mortgage Professional will assist you with this process. They'll be able to help you determine how much you can borrow based on your annual income. If necessary, your agent can help you find a mortgage professional to get this process started.

Step 3: Get Pre-approved for a Mortgage Loan
The next step is to get pre-approved for mortgage financing. This is similar to getting pre-qualified, but it’s a more formal process. Your Mortgage professional can help you get pre-approved. You will need to supply proof of your income for the pre-approval process to move forward.

Most real estate agents in North King and Snohomish County (as well as sellers) prefer potential home buyers to be pre-approved before searching for a home.

Step 4: House Hunting in North King and Snohomish County
After you’ve been pre-approved for your mortgage loan, it’s time to begin your home search. Your realtor will work with you to find the right home for your unique needs.

Step 5: Crafting Your Offer
After you’ve found the home you want, your real estate professional will work with you in formalizing the purchase contract and presenting your offer to the seller.

Your mortgage professional can provide you with a loan pre-approval letter. You’ll need a copy of this mortgage pre-approval letter to accompany your offer. You’ll also be expected to include a check for "earnest money" - the amount will depend on the price of the home you are buying. Usually, in our area, the minimum amount for the "earnest money" is generally 1 1/2 to 3% of the sales price. This amount will show that you are serious about buying the home, and will be applied toward your down payment at the close of escrow.

Step 6: Negotiation Process
If the seller accepts your first offer, congratulations, however it’s likely that the seller will come back with a counter-offer. This negotiation process can go back and forth for a while, depending on factors like the motivation of the seller, the local market conditions, and a host of other factors. Your realtor will help you through this negotiation, and make it less stressful. After all, they’ve been through this process many times before.

Step 7: Provide a Copy of the Purchase Agreement to Your Mortgage Broker
After your offer has been accepted, your agent will present your mortgage broker with a copy of the Purchase and Sale Agreement for the home.

Step 8: Work to Close the Mortgage Loan
After presenting the Purchase Agreement, you’ll need to work closely with your mortgage broker to ensure you meet all the conditions required for the closing of the mortgage loan.

Step 9: Home Inspection Prior to Closing
Within the first few days following acceptance of your offer, you're advised to have a thorough home inspection performed by a qualified and certified home inspector. A home inspection will protect you from flaws in the construction and condition of the home that are not obvious to the untrained eye. Home inspections can uncover things like foundation cracks, termite infestation and other home quality issues. There are many good home inspectors in the North King and Snohomish County area. If any problems are found, there is a provision in the contract to either withdraw the offer or request repairs.

Step 10: Close of Escrow
After the home inspection has been performed and the report has come back clean (or all the items uncovered have been repaired, or negotiated) the process will move forward to the close of escrow. In Washington, the close of escrow is pre-determined when the offer is made, the typical time is approximately 30 days following acceptance of the offer. Officially, the "closing" is when the deed is recorded, so you will be signing final documents, making the down payment and the mortgage loan will be funded prior to this. If you're from out of the area, all of this can be accomplished through fax or email.