Before you start seriously looking at homes, it is important to speak with a lender. Our advice is to pick one that is local. You may use a national lender, however, if there is a problem at the last minute you will want your lender readily available and familiar with the local nuances.

When meeting with a lender, they will tell you the maximum home price you can afford. This is an important figure. It is equally useful to figure out where your ideal housing budget is. In other words, tell the lender what monthly payment you are comfortable with spending for your home and let them tell you what purchase price equates to your budget. This is the price range you should be looking at, not your maximum!

Also, make sure the lender is giving you a "good faith estimate" which is the best way to shop lender's rates. A good faith estimate will have your total monthly payment, including principal, interest, taxes and insurance. It will also provide you with a summary of charges or closing costs. These are up front costs that the buyer must pay at closing. It is possible to negotiate for the seller to pay these, but leave that up to us!

When house hunting, it is important to let us know what you are looking for in a home. We recommend making two lists. The first list consisting of what you must have in your new house. These things include the areas or cities you are (or are not) looking in, minimum bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage etc. The second list should include items you would like to have, but aren't absolutely necessary such as a fireplace, 5 piece master bath or maybe an extra bonus room upstairs.

Also, use a buyer's agent! We will do all the legwork for you i.e. drive you, set appointments, provide you with statistics, a market analysis and represent your interests. This costs you nothing. Not all buyer's agents are equal. A good buyer's agent, one that specializes in representing buyers (not a listing agent who represents sellers) will have a good working relationship with other agents and builders around town. Along with a greater knowledge on the areas and neighborhoods, a true buyer's agent may be able to negotiate for higher buyer bonuses and builder incentives.

Making an offer is a delicate first step. In order to get the most from the seller it is imperative for us to gather as much information about your potential new home as possible prior to making an offer. This information includes time on market, price reductions (and when they were done), recent sold homes and reason for selling to name a few. As your buyer's agent, we will help you obtain all these answers.

Once we have gathered the necessary information and decide on a reasonable asking price and terms it is time to put pen to paper.

As your representative we will prepare your offer in such a way to protect your interests and relay the necessary information to the sellers. It is important to include addendums to the contract such as a financing and inspection addendums. In the Buyer's guide we go over all the major forms and addendums along with our personal experiences and strategies to get the most from a seller.

Once we have submitted your offer, usually within a day or two a response will come back from the sellers. If the seller changes anything from your offer, it constitutes a counter offer and you are now negotiating! This process with a seller can potentially be stressful, making it advantageous to handle this through an agent who is representing you. During the negotiation process it is good to respond to a counter in writing, rather than a phone call. A written response is much more powerful, as there is written contract in front of the seller.

As your agent, we can provide valuable information and cues from the seller's side during the negotiation process that will help us receive better terms. For example, it is common for us to find out that there is a couple thousand dollars more wiggle room if we were to keep negotiating. We receive this information either through the sellers or past experiences we have had with the seller, especially builders. Builders like to keep us and our clients happy as we bring them buyers for their homes.

Once the buyer and seller have agreed on terms, you are mutually accepted and under contract. Any contract should have a home inspection contingency. This gives the buyer usually ten days to complete the necessary inspections. As your buyer's agent, we can recommend or assist you in finding a reputable home inspector. At the end of this ten day period, if the buyer is not satisfied, they can walk away from the transaction without any repercussions from the seller.

However, if the buyers do a home inspection and find items that are not suitable but still would like to purchase the home, we have the opportunity to ask the seller to fix these items. If the seller refuses, we can walk away and if they agree, we continue to purchase the home. See the actual forms used in the inspection contingency and negotiating process in the full buyer's guide.

Upon mutual acceptance of the contract (buyer and seller have come to agreement), title and escrow will begin. A title company will provide the buyer and lender with a title report showing everything recorded against the property. This may include liens by creditors, unpaid taxes, easements or rights to use the property by someone else, like a neighbor. It is important to go over the title policy to make sure the things that need to be cleared up are done so before the buyer pays for the property.

Often times, the escrow company and title company will be the same, for convenience. For example, Chicago Title and Stewart Title also have their own escrow departments. They keep the earnest money until closing and act as a third party to manage the monies that change hands between the buyer, seller, lender, government (taxes) and other parties to the transaction. They also make sure the buyer and seller sign all necessary documents and they get recorded at the county.

The term closing can be loosely used to describe signing papers at the escrow company, the funding of your loan or the disbursement of funds to all parties who are part of the transaction. The actual signing of your closing papers actually takes place at escrow a few days prior to recording at the county.

The closing of your home technically means that everything has been signed at escrow, your financing is complete and the closing papers, including the mortgage and deed of trust have been recorded at the county. Once your home is closed or recorded you officially own your home. In most instances, this is the day you receive keys to your new home!