House hunting is an exciting time. You want to take your time and find the right Beverly Hills property for you and your family. You might be buying your first home or your seventh, but you need a helping hand to ensure you make all the right moves to secure the home you want.
It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of touring homes and go over your budget or miss out on an item on your must-have list. During the house hunting process, you need to remain focused to avoid any obstacles in your path. The Beverly Hills real estate market is unlike any other market, and you need a helping hand.
Epik Realtors has put together this complete home buying guide for Beverly Hills to make the process a little easier:
Find a mortgage broker and get pre-approved
When you decide it's time to buy a home, your first step should be finding a mortgage broker and getting pre-approval. It's beneficial to apply at more than one financial institution, so you're assured of the best interest rate and terms possible for your mortgage.
Pre-approval for a mortgage positions you as a serious buyer and opens a variety of doors for your search. It also helps you create a budget for your home search. You'll have a better understanding of how much you can borrow to purchase a home and the amount of the monthly mortgage payments.
You don't have to spend all the money that a mortgage company is willing to lend you. It's beneficial to decide a range of monthly payments you're comfortable paying and use that amount to set your budget.
Set a realistic budget for searching for Beverly Hills homes
With the pre-approval for a budget in hand, it's time to set your budget for buying one of the homes for sale in Beverly Hills. You can add the amount you plan to use as a down payment to the mortgage amount to create your budget.
It's a good idea to look at the mortgage amount and the possible monthly payments. If the monthly payments seem too high for your comfort, you can plan to use less of the available mortgage amount to lower the payments. You want to make sure you're going to be able to comfortably make your monthly payments.
Understand the difference between musts and wants
Homes come in all shapes and sizes with a host of amenities. Before you start touring homes, you need to know the minimum you need in your new home. For example, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms should be considered. Also, you might need a home office space if you work from home a lot.
It's easy to confuse wants for needs, so you need to create a way to separate the two. You should provide your real estate agent with your must-haves, and a few wants to make it easier for them to guide your home search while remaining within your set budget. It's the best way to get a home you'll truly love.
Choose a Beverly Hills real estate agent
You might think all real estate agents are the same, but this isn't the case. You deserve to work with an agent that makes the home buying process as seamless as possible and doesn't waste your time showing you properties that don't meet your needs or are within your predetermined budget.
You want to work with a real estate agent who takes the time to listen to your needs and put those into action when finding your new home. It's also important your real estate agent has a network in place to learn about new homes as soon as they hit the market, so you can view them first.
Tour homes and narrow down your choices
You might tour five homes or a dozen, and your real estate agent will offer you a selection of possibilities. You need to put your list of haves and wants into action when selecting houses to tour. It's possible the first home you tour is the right choice for you.
Once you've narrowed down your choices to one or two, it's a good idea to do a little research on the home. What are the yearly property taxes? How much have those taxes increased in the past few years? How much are the monthly utility bills for the home? Your real estate agent and the seller's agent should be able to provide you with answers to these questions and others.
Submit an offer and negotiate counteroffers
Once you've decided on the home you want to make an offer to buy, it's time to craft an offer that gets you the house. Your real estate agent can provide invaluable advice at this stage. You'll offer earnest money at the time you submit the offer to the seller.
It almost never happens that the first offer is accepted, and you shouldn't expect to be. Sometimes, the seller makes a counteroffer, while other times, they reject the offer. If your offer is close to the asking price, you will probably receive a counteroffer. These offers can go back and forth as long as there's room for compromise, and eventually, there'll be an agreeable offer or a rejection.
Complete all the steps to finalize your mortgage
While you've already had a mortgage preapproved, you're going to need to take the steps to finalize it, and this means it needs to go to the underwriting department. The financial institution might ask for more information and documentation about your financial health.
They also run a second credit check. You need to pay attention to any deadlines they provide for the information they request. It's possible if you miss a deadline that, your mortgage won't be ready in time to close on your new home.
You don't want to find yourself in a position where you have to go back to the seller and request a later closing date. It's possible you might lose the home of your dreams this way.
Take care of the home inspection and appraisal
As the buyer, it falls to you to take responsibility for the home inspection, including arranging it and paying for it. Your real estate agent can provide you with a few names and help you make the arrangements for the inspection.
Your mortgage company will almost always insist on an appraisal of the property to protect its investment. The appraisal and inspection can turn up a variety of information, such as needed repair or property not worth as much as you need for the mortgage. Either of these can lead to a new negotiation of the asking price and other terms in the sale of the home.
Use newly uncovered issues to renegotiate the original deal
The home inspection can turn up a host of issues with the home. It can range from minor repairs to a foundation that needs extensive work. This is why a home inspection is necessary. However, with the home inspection in hand, you can renegotiate the original deal.
There might be repairs that the homeowner wants to do themselves before the home closes. There are other times when the seller might accept a lower price, so you can handle the repairs after you move in. Your real estate agent will help you navigate these negotiations to get you the best deal possible.
Get ready to go to closing and close on your new home
With the home inspection completed and your mortgage arranged, it's time to get ready for closing. A day or two before the closing date, you and your real estate agent will go back to tour the home. You're looking for fresh damage and making sure any repairs were made.
You'll need to make arrangements for your homeowner's insurance and set up the utilities so they transfer into your name on the date of closing. It's a good idea to double-check your ID and pick up any checks a day or two before closing.
It takes a couple of hours to close on your home, and you'll spend a lot of time signing paperwork. You shouldn't bring any young children with you who might disrupt the process.
Work with the Beverly Hills real estate agent that caters to your needs
When you're ready to take the first few steps in your home-buying journey, you're going to need a real estate agent to help you find your dream house. Whether you're looking for condos for sale in Beverly Hills or single-family homes, a real estate agent guides your search and matches you with properties that fit your needs.
Epik Realty has a team of Beverly Hills real estate agents that strive to help you find the ideal home. After you connect with our team, we'll go to work finding properties to view. We partner with you to find the house that your family is going to love calling home. Reach out to us today!
