Buyers

Home Buying Process

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Southern Maryland or surrounding areas, you can count on iRealty Real Estate Group to take care of you. With more than 15 years experience of selling real estate in Waldorf, MD and surrounding areas, we are your go to brokerage.

#1 Get Pre-Approved

Work with your lender, or one of our preferred lenders, to obtain a mortgage loan Pre-approval Letter. The Loan Officer will verify your net income, financial statements, and credit scores.
The Loan Officer will verify your cash available to pay your Earnest Money Deposit and traditional Buyer’s Closing Costs.
The Loan Officer will provide you with an estimated mortgage payment and amount cash required to purchase the home at the Sales Price that you desire and are approved for.

#2 View Homes for Sale

Make a “Top Ten” list so that you can narrow your search to those homes that fit your exact parameters to find that perfect home.
Determine if you want to consider all homes on the market, including Fixer-Uppers, REOs, Foreclosures, Short Sales or focus on Standard Sale / Move-in Ready homes or even New Construction.
We will set you up on an automatic email to send you homes that meet your search criteria and we will commit to showing you homes the same day or within 24 hours of them being listed on the market.

#3 Earnest Money Deposit

No offer can legally be submitted without an earnest money deposit.
Your earnest money deposit should be a minimum of 1% of the Sales Price. This is the seller’s first impression of your desire/ability to consummate the transaction.
We will write your offer to include contingencies that will return your earnest money deposit to you if you are unable to obtain financing, the home does not appraise at the sales price or if the home does not satisfactorily pass a home inspection.

#4 Write a Strong Purchase Offer

We will explain the current market conditions to you based on the marketability of the home that you are pursuing and let you know what is needed for your offer to be competitive.
Prepare for multiple offers if the home is considered desirable and in a hot location.
We have an awesome track record of our Buyer’s offers being accepted on homes where there are over ten and as high as fourteen competing offers.
We will show you how to make your offer as competitive or as conservative as you desire it to be.

#5 Negotiate and Write Counter Offers

The seller can either Accept, Counter, or Reject the offer.
Don’t expect the seller to issue a counter-offer in this hot market. However, if the seller counters your offer, we will continue to negotiate to get your offer accepted.

#6 Get our Offer Accepted

Once our offer is accepted we then have a Fully Ratified Contract.
It is now time to actually Apply for the loan with your lender.

#7 Comply with Lender Requirements

Lenders may ask for additional information.
Do not make home buying mistakes such as altering your financial situation while in escrow. DO NOT OPEN NEW CREDIT CARD ACCTS OR BUY A NEW CAR ETC. YOU COULD LOSE THE WHOLE LOAN ALL TOGETHER..
When the file is complete, the lender will submit it for final underwriter approval.

#8 Order Title/Order Appraisal

Your Lender will reach out to the title company and order title and he/she will also order an appraisal. See Lender for appraisal fees that will normally need to be paid upfront.
We will not be there for the appraisal but you will get the results. Your lender will provide a copy of the appraisal for you. If the house does not appraise at loan value we will have to renegotiate this issue with the sellers. If this cannot be resolved, you will get your earnest money deposit back and we will have to find another home.
Please note, some lenders wait until after the Home Inspection to order the Appraisal.

#9 Conduct Home Inspection

Hire a reputable home inspector (we can recommend a few as well). This fee will be paid upfront as well.
We will attend the home inspection and the inspector will answer any questions at that time. Most inspectors will email you a copy of the home inspection within 24 hours.

#10 Issue Request for Repair

If the home inspection turns up health and safety issues, we will issue a request for repair(s) by asking the seller to address those issues or give you a credit for them.
Realize no home is perfect, and the inspector will find a fault; that is what you are paying them to do.
We will explain the differences between cosmetic, electrical, plumbing, and structural issues.

#11 Order Homeowner's Insurance Policy

Order your home insurance policy. This is required to be in place at settlement.

#12 Do Final Walk-Through

Do not pass up doing a final walk through. We will do this on the same day of, or approximately 18 hours prior to, settlement.
Inspect the property to make sure it’s in the same condition as when you agreed to buy it.
If we find a serious issue, we will address it before you close.

#13 Obtain Certified Funds to Close

The lender will submit the Closing Disclosure for your review 3 days prior to settlement and you will know the exact amount of funds that you will need to bring to settlement in order to close or you will know how much will be refunded to you at the settlement table. However, receiving money at the table is rare in this current market.
Wire certified funds to the Escrow/title Company.