Suburbs of Greater Milwaukee » Tag » homebuyer tax credit

Archive for tag Homebuyer tax credit

How long does it really take to buy a home?

February 25, 2010 at 11:52 AM · Posted under Ann Lebiecki

How long does it really take to buy a home? You may have wondered just how long the process takes: searching, financing, inspecting, closing and finally moving in. If you follow the tips below you can be on your way to getting an accepted offer in as little as 2-3 weeks with a subsequent closing in 30 days. All total 6 weeks! Just in time to take advantage of the Home Buyers Tax Credit that expires April 30, 2010.

Here are a few tips and guidelines to use when planning to buy a home.

Get pre-qualified. Ask your family, friends or co-workers who may have recently purchased a home who they used to finance the transaction. Set up a meeting with a loan officer to discuss the different loan programs that may be available to you. Right now one great program is an FHA loan. With the right credit scores you can buy a home with only 3.5% down payment and interest rates are very competitive. WHEDA, another government backed loan has just recently become available again too. Of course there is conventional financing that requires a minimum of 5% down (20% if you want to avoid paying private mortgage insurance-PMI). The loan officer will tell you how much of a loan you can qualify for and what your monthly payments would be. There are closing costs associated with the loan so make sure they give you an idea of what they should be.
Find a Buyer’s Agent. Once you have found out you qualify for a home loan and what price point you are comfortable with, now you want to meet with a Buyers Agent. Not all Realtors are members of REBAC (Real estate buyers agent council) and may not be representing your best interest. In fact in Wisconsin, the agent showing you homes is not representing you the buyer unless you have entered into a formal written agreement called a Buyer’s Agency Representation. If you don’t have that written agreement the agent is a sub-agent for the listing broker and thereby is representing the sellers’ best interest. I offer buyer counseling to my clients where we get together and talk thru the process. I find out the buyers’ needs and wants in a home, and where they’d like to live. We discuss agency relationships, viewing homes and contingencies like financing and home inspection. We then pull up on the computer homes that meet their criteria and pick out ones to view. At the end of the 90 minute meeting we typically have a date set to go out on tour.
View Homes. The beauty of working with one agent in the buying process is that he/she will set up the tour of homes and gain access to them for you. You can block out a few hours and depending on the location of the homes see 6-10 homes and get a great picture of what your dollar can buy. There is no need to wait for open houses, as some homes are never held open and sold even before the first open house.
Write the offer. Once you’ve selected the home you’d like to buy, you submit a written offer on a state approved form. Your agent will walk you through the process and explain the forms and include any contingencies necessary.
Finalize the closing. Once you’ve gotten an accepted offer and satisfied any of your contingencies you can set up closing. Closing is set from 9am-4pm weekdays and takes about an hour. After the closing you are the proud new owner of a home.