Skip to main content

Your First Home: Step 6-Perform Due Diligence

So by now, you have found your house and have reached an initial agreement with the seller. To close the deal though, you must remove contingencies. But how do you feel comfortable enough to remove them? You do due diligence. If you discover a reason you should not be purchasing this house in doing due diligence, you are saving yourself a lot of heartache and money and removing yourself from the transaction while you are still able to.

One of your first major inquiries will be for: homeowners insurance and property inspections. While this may cause another round of negotiations-these steps are to protect you the buyer. In regards to your home owners insurance policy, here are some things to think about:

1.      How much coverage do you need?

2.      Replacement cost or actual cash value?

3.      What the named and unnamed perils?

4.      Do you need personal property insurance?

5.      What are your additional living expenses?

Once insurance has been picked, proof of insurance is sent to your lender and arrange for you to prepay a year’s worth of premium as part of your closing costs. Next let’s talk to a property inspector. While looking for your guy, review the seller’s disclosure - a written statement of the owner’s knowledge of the property’s current condition. Back to the inspector, here’s some things to ask him:

1.      Are you licensed, or a member of a professional inspectors organization?

2.      What is your professional background?

3.      What kind of ongoing training do you receive?

4.      Do you have errors and omission insurance?

5.      Can I see a sample inspection report?

6.      Do you specialize in a certain kind of construction?

7.      What does it cost?

8.      How soon are you available?

You have picked your person and the inspection has been set up-if possible attend your inspection. Once the report is ready, it is emailed to you. It is very important to read it first. Remember no home is perfect, but when asking for repairs-keep them health and safety related. Once you and the seller have come to agreement about what repairs are to be done or compensation-we move on survey, title work, and appraisal.

This ride is almost over, but it isn’t over yet. Join us next week as we get ready to close the deal!

Orange, CA-TRREG DRE#01843673-RP100 DRE#02059058-P:714-831-1800-E:info@theresultsrealestategroup.com-W:www.theresultsrealestategroup.com-Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn
Reference: Your First Home by Gary Keller

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Your First Home: Step 8-Protect Your Investment

Welcome to the world of home ownership, besides feeling like you signed your life away-how does it feel? You may find yourself feeling pride of ownership, because you now in fact own something. But with great power comes great responsibility-home maintenance. One of the best resources for you, even after the transaction, is going to be your real estate agent. Chances are, if you need a specific kind of vendor-they have one they trust and can refer you to. Home maintenance falls into two categories: Keep it clean and keep an eye on it. Review the maintenance needs for your home once you are settled in plan for regular service. If you notice something different, investigate it and fix it. A small problem not treated turns into a massively more expensive problem when ignored. Be sure to also read your home warranty, some of the repairs that come up may be covered. Also, have reserves set up for “Life Happens” situations. Finally, the most important part, Housewarming Party! Nothing w...

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Coronavirus

Greetings, Today I wanted to simply jot down some thoughts I had about this novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that the news cycle seems to love to talk about: - Will real estate values be affected? The answer is the same as every real estate question, it depends. I believe luxury will be impacted, I think more modest dwellings will not, and for a very simple reason, there is not more inventory and people have to live somewhere. - Is this our 1987 moment? In 1987 we had Black Monday, the biggest one day stock market drop in history, afterwards, real estate prices went up in a straight line for 18 months. Just like any good investor, when there is a shock to the system, you have to recalibrate, you either go to safety (or even relative safety, like houses versus paper ownership in a company), or you go to what has been undervalued. I suspect there is a good chance this is our 1987 moment for real estate. The 80's are dead, long live the 80's. - The drop in stock price...

Your First Home: Step 7-Close

We got through the home inspection, that was intense. What’s next? Why, title and appraisal of course! We are in the home stretch; you can do this. As the lender is finalizing the mortgage, they are doing a little bit more digging: appraisal to confirm the value, survey to confirm the boundaries, title to verify ownership, and title insurance. Appraisers will look at the home and comps to determine what they think the home is worth and relay this to you and the lender. The lender will only write a loan for the home’s appraised value, so if there is a difference between selling price and appraisal price-buyer and seller have to come together to cover the gap. Therefore, it is important to create a win-win situation, both parties have to work together at times. Survey is to determine where the homes boundaries are and are not. You would be surprised how many times a neighbor’s fence may be on your property due to boundaries of each property being forgotten over time and various homeo...