Buyer's Guide

Purchasing a home is a great investment and can be a path to long-term wealth, provided you are in the financial position to become a homeowner. Homeownership provides a variety of financial advantages including equity buildup, value appreciation, and tax benefits. Deciding to purchase a home is one of the largest and most important purchases you will ever make. Essentially, it can be a forced savings account, unlike paying rent—which builds someone else’s equity and wealth.

Along with choosing a real estate agent, getting pre-approved for a mortgage is another important step in the home purchase process. Before you begin searching for a home, you will want to know the amount of financing for which you qualify, so that you are searching in the right price range. Please note that you may not want to borrow the full amount for which you are pre-approved.

Once you’ve found the right home, it’s time to make an offer. This is exciting, but it can also be an emotional and complicated experience. You will be glad you have an experienced Hegg sales professional by your side to help guide you through the offer process. In order to make an informed decision on the price you offer on the home, your agent will research similar properties in the area where the potential home is located. This will help determine if the home is being offered at a fair market value, which will help you determine your offer to purchase price. Typically an offer includes but is not limited to the following:

• Price
• Earnest Money
• Financing
• Terms & Conditions
• Date of Possession
• Contingencies (These specify any event that will need to take place in order for you to fulfill the contract, i.e. inspections to be completed on the home, an existing home to sell prior to closing on a new home, etc.)

After the home inspection process is complete, and you are ready to move forward, there are a few pre-closing responsibilities that you will need to keep in mind.

• Stay in control of your credit and finances—don’t make any large purchases prior to closing.
• Stay in communication with your Real Estate Agent and lender. Be sure to complete and turn in all required documentation as requested and in a timely manner.
• Do a final walk-through inspection of the property with your agent.
• Confirm you have received a copy of the closing statement prior to closing.
• If needed, bring a cashier’s check for all the closing costs and the balance of the down payment to the closing.