So you want to purchase a home in West Central Florida….now what?

The first thing you need to do is to find a real estate agent or team that is knowledgeable about the area. We believe that Team Brumbach will give you the best chance to find your perfect home for the right price!

Some of the tasks that we will do to help you navigate through the home buying process include:

• Educate you about the current conditions of market.
• Analyze what you want and what you need in your next home.
• Guide you to homes and communities that fit your criteria.
• Coordinate the work of other needed professionals throughout the process including inspectors, mortgage providers, and contractors for any need repairs.
• Provide you with a market analysis so that you can see what other properties similar to the property you are interested in have sold for in the past six months.
• Negotiate with the seller and/or seller’s agent on your behalf to get you the best deal possible.
• Check and double-check paperwork and deadlines.
• Solve any problems that may arise.

Make the decision to purchase a home and be systematic about your approach and process.

What that means is simple, map out a plan with your realtor.  Determine what your priorities are and be reasonable.  Often times, buyers don’t focus their priorities and as a result, nothing meets their needs.  Have you ever heard the phrase….million dollar taste on a beer can budget?

Decide what are truly the top three priorities and stick to them.  Often times we see clients do tons of research to the point that they get information overload, you are hiring a real estate agent to help you with the process, so let them help and point you in the right direction.  Once you chosen an agent to work with make sure that you communicate with them and trust their opinion!

Now that you have chosen Team Brumbach to help you with your search, help us get to know you.

One of the best ways to get to know our clients is to do an informal interview.  This free exchange of information will help us get to know what you are looking for, what your interests are, what your priorities are, and the type of home and community that best suits your needs.  See the following link for an example of our Team Brumbach Buyer Profile sheet which is a helpful guide to focus in on your priorities!

Get prequalified for a mortgage and determine with the loan officer what is a comfortable payment.

While this seems like an easy step, all too often buyers come to us and haven’t really decided what a comfortable payment is for them.  When determining what the right payment is, don’t forget to consider what the costs of insurance, taxes, and HOA/CDD fees will be.  During the initial prequalification process, the loan officer is going to want to know the following;

• What were your earnings have been for the past two years.
• What your social security number is.
• How long do you plan on living in the home.
• Where have your worked for the past two years.
• What your approximate monthly recurring debt it.

You can go directly to one of our preferred mortgage providers found on our partners website and start filling out the on line application as your convenience!

Now that your prequalfied the fun begins!  One of our favorite things to do with buyers is to go house hunting armed with all the information.

Once we have the information on what is most important in your new home and community and we know how much you would like to spend we can start the house hunting in earnest.  Provided we are all on the same page, this should be the most exciting part of the process…finding your new home!

While this process is fun, it can also be confusing as you see multiple houses in a few hours.  We have learned through years of experience that the best thing to do is to keep only three favorites.

Buying a home in Tampa Florida

Day One – Try to look at three houses in each area you are considering a get an overview of the area.  By the end of day one try to focus in on one specific area.

Day Two – Once we have selected the area or community you want to live in it is time to look at anything in this area that fits your criteria.  Try to keep only three favorite properties.

Day Three – Go back to your three favorite and pick “the one”, look at comparable solds, and start making offers.

If all goes well you should move on to the next phase shortly!

Start making offers!

This is personally one of our favorite steps in the home buying process.  Team Brumbach prides itself on getting the best price possible for our clients.  Expectations are a key to whether your offer is accepted or not.  Whether the market is a buyer’s market or seller’s market, it is fairly easy to get a strong estimate of value by looking back at comparable solds in the past 90 days.

We also love it when our buyer’s are comfortable with more than one house as it gives us leverage to get the best deal possible and also to submit multiple offers.  The key to this game, just like buying a car, is not to get emotionally attached to one specific home.  That is easier said, than done!

The average response time is from 24-48 hours on any offers and many times the second and third counter are done so verbally.  If the home is a foreclosure or regular sale you should be able to close in 30-45 days.  If it is a short sale it could take 3-6 months…so be patient and have some back up options!

Once you’ve got an offer accepted it is time to get your inspections done to insure the home you are buying does not have any hidden problems!

Stop and take a deep breath.  When going into this phase it is important to have a realistic expectation on what you hope to achieve in this phase of the home buying process.

Important Things to note:

1. You are not hiring a structural engineer so don’t expect your home inspector to find everything.  Find an inspector that is ASHI certified and realize you are getting a $350 evaluation your new home.
2. The inspector will find a lot of small issues.  The key is that they don’t find any big problems such as an indication of structural shifting, indication of mold, or other big ticket items.
3. If you find something big but still love the home go back to the seller’s agent and provide a copy of the inspection and let them know you are still interested but need an adjustment.

Important inspections to consider include general home inspection, pest inspection, pool inspection, Chinese Drywall inspection, and structural inspection.  Many of these inspections can cost a lot so often times it doesn’t make sense to them unless there is some indication there may be a problem.  The general home inspector should be able to alert you of any areas of concern.

Now that you are through inspections you are getting closer to closing!

To Do List:

1. Make sure that you get your lender any additional information they need to get the loan approved.
2. Request a proposed settlement statement from your lender and the title company with as close an estimate as possible of money you will need to bring to closing.
3. Don’t do anything that might dramatically impact the banks decision to lend you money until after you have closed.
4. Conduct a final walk thru the day before closing to insure all repairs have been made to the home and that nothing has been dramatically changed since you placed an offer on the property.
5. Get home insurance lined up about a week prior to closing and hope that there are no hurricanes in the gulf.  Many insurance companies will not all closing to occur while there are active hurricanes in the gulf.
6. Make sure you bring certified bank funds or better yet, wire the money a day prior to closing.  In addition, make sure you bring a drivers license and get ready to sign a lot of documents!

The day of closing take a deep breath.  Unfortunately, there are many last minute hiccups that can occur when buying a home and getting a loan.  Things can be delayed and underwriters may need additional last minute information.  This is more common than a lot of buyers realize so if you can plan for hiccups in advance you will have a game plan if things are delayed.

Start moving into your new home and don’t forget to consider some imporant things that may help you protect the most important investment of your life!

The home buying process can be an emotional one.  You spend two months talking to one of our agents and all of a sudden you don’t speak to us every other day.  Does that mean we don’t care or don’t want to talk to you?  The short answer is no!  Any recommendations on contractors, day care facilities, pool service companies, or anything else is just a phone call away.

While the home buying process is over, it doesn’t mean that our relationship is.  We want to earn your future business and all your friends and neighbors business so let us know what we can do to help you or provide you with whatever service you need.

One important consideration is whether to get a home warranty.  These typically cost approximately $400 and can be well worth the investment and peace of mind.