The hardest part for prospective home buyers is not finding the home and getting your offer accepted. Rather, the hardest part of buying a home is what happens between getting your signed contract back and your loan closing. During this phase of home buying you must carefully be alert and do your research in the necessary steps for completion or you could find yourself with unexpected problems.
Recheck All Pages Of Your Sales Contract And Familiarize Yourself With All Dates
Your first consideration is to analyze your contract and list all important dates such as contract deadlines and actual closing date. If there has been anything between you and the seller where there may be some disagreement, this situation may have altered the closing date.
Order Home Inspection And Beware Of Other Inspections
A home inspection needs to be accomplished as soon as possible if you are going to have one done in your home purchase. This is not a required inspection, but if you are going to have one, you must have it done within the inspection period which is usually somewhere between 10-14 days after your sales contract has been accepted and signed.
If you get your home inspection completed right away that way if anything is found to your disliking or you find questionable during the inspection, you should have ample time for corrections or renegotiation with the seller. If the housing market is especially busy, you may have difficulty finding an inspector who has time to inspect your prospective house. Most real estate agents have relationships with home inspection companies so if you are working with an agent, you shouldn’t have problems getting an inspection completed pretty quickly.
Depending on your sales contract you may have other inspections to get completed as well. Also, if you are getting an FHA loan, or a rehab loan you will have some additional inspections to worry about. See: What Inspections Do I Need To Buy A Home? for additional information on inspections.
Start Shopping Early For Home Owners Insurance
Another important step in buying a home after your contract is accepted is obtaining homeowner's insurance. Hazard Insurance companies consider both the buyer and the seller and investigate claims which may have been submitted against properties, especially if it concerns water damage. This includes claims made by the buyer in a former house, as well as the seller of the present house. The ideal situation is if no claims have been made by either party within the past five years.
It's so important to investigate insurability of the house during the contingency time frame. This period is also known in many states as the inspection period. Should you discover it'll cost more than you expected due to the past seller's insurance claims, you will have time to make some arrangements for compensation from the seller. If this isn't possible, at least you are fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the house purchase if you still want to close the contract.
Beware Of Delays In The Mortgage Approval Process
Sometimes closings are delayed and it usually has something to do concerning the buyer's mortgage. Be certain to provide all information needed to secure your loan approval. The loan papers won't be prepared and ready for signing unless all the lender's approval requirements are satisfactorily met.
Make Sure That You Do A Final Walk Through
Before final closure, you need to do a final inspection of the house with your real estate agent to be certain that the home is the same condition as when you first saw the house. Ask the seller to show you anything unusual about the house that would be beneficial to you as the new owner.
Wiring Funds For Closing – Get Instructions
When your closing date arrives, make arrangements for transfer of remaining funds necessary for completion of sale. Some buyers have these funds wired to the closing agent; who may be a title company, escrow office or a closing attorney. It is really important that you follow the direction of your mortgage company for your money transfer. You must be able to track where your funds are coming from. Gift funds are closely watched to make sure that they come from a proper donor versus a credit card advance.
Try to obtain copies of all prospective closure documents for your review and familiarity before your actual closing date. By Federal Law you are supposed to get a copy of your settlement statement several days in advance to review so make sure that you ask your loan officer about getting this before you close. Getting what paperwork you can ahead of time before signing final papers will help your loan signing go much smoother.
If you want more information on what's next after your sales contract is signed please ask EdGAR.
