Understanding the Home Buying Process
Buying a home in Tucson can be challenging. The great listings won’t be on the market long. You need to have up-to-date information on the latest listings, and an agent you can count on to be your partner in the process and ensure that your home search will be as fun and stress-free as possible.
If you haven’t found a mortgage professional yet, I’m happy to refer you to someone in my network I trust:
Sean Denlinger at VIP Mortgage
Email Sean or call: (520) 440-0516
Chuck Leefers at Nova Home Loans
Email Chuck or call: (520) 615-5513
Here are some other ways to begin your search:
Drive by: There’s no better way to get to know a neighborhood and you don’t need an appointment. You can get a feel for the area, find out where the schools and parks are, see how many homes are for sale or rent, and assess the walkability of the neighborhood.
Open House: On any given weekend, there are a number of open houses, and while you don’t need an appointment, you do need to show up at the right time. Open houses are hosted by the listing agent and usually last for 3-4 hours, typically from late morning to mid-afternnon. You can easily find out where open houses are taking place by doing an Open House Search on the MLS or Zillow.
Private Home Showings: When you’re ready to dig deeper and have a private tour on your schedule, contact your agent and they’ll be able to set up appointments for you. Plan on seeing no more than 5-6 homes at a time and make sure you go prepared with these tools:
Mobile apps: Realtor.com and Zillow are handy tools for getting information on the fly and even showing you nearby businesses.
Notebook & pen: take plenty of notes! After seeing 5-6 properties, it’s hard to recall all the details of each home and not get them mixed up. Or use Evernote and create a note for each property you view.
Smartphone/camera: don’t take photos without permission, but any photos that you can take will help you remember your likes and dislikes about each home.
Together, we’ll sit down and define a clear vision of your goals. By asking the right questions, and listening carefully to your answers, I can create a customized home search for you and you’ll be notified any time a new listing comes up that matches your criteria. That way, you won’t miss any opportunity to find your ideal home!
Negotiating back and forth an be a nerve wracking process. Again, your agent can guide you and offer advice on any new terns or conditions presented. Once you’ve got a signed contract, there’s still plenty of steps ahead, including opening escrow, inspections and appraisals.
If there are issues identified in the inspection report that you want the seller to address, they should be included in the BINSR (Buyer’s Inspection Notice and Seller’s Response). The BINSR is an addendum to the contract that acknowledges that all desired inspections are complete and allows the buyer and seller to negotiate the repair of any issues.
Your lender will order an appraisal to verify the value of the home you’re buying as part of the loan approval process. A licensed appraiser will go to the property, take measurements and look for defects. Then they look at other recent home sales in the neighborhood to determine that you are paying “fair market value” for the home. When the appraisal is finished, the report is sent to the lender. In most cases, the home will appraise at or above the contract price. In the event that the home appraises below the contract price, your agent can guide you on your options, which may include, requesting a revision of the appraisal if any errors are found, renegotiation with the seller, paying or splitting the difference, or canceling the contract.
Once the buyer and seller have signed all the required documents, the lender will wire the funds to the title company. The monies will be distributed by the title company and the deed will be recorded with the county. Once the deed is recorded, you will be the new owner of the home!