KiKi Williams| REALTOR | St. Louis & St. Charles County

   314-912-5287  950 Caledonia Dr, O'Fallon, MO 63368

KiKi Williams Real Estate

Step One To Buying Your First Home With Pride

How exciting!!! You are finally in a place that you are ready to purchase your first home.  Myself, KiKi Williams, along with my supporting team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeService Select Properties specialize in helping first-time home buyers, like you, find their dream property, and get them to “home base”. Here is step one to buying your first home with pride, lets call it “Buying St. Louis” why not lol.

Because you are so excited I know that you have already began searching online and dreaming. But there is a process that we have to do before we can hit the pavement. Before you start searching for homes online, it’s important to take the first step to house hunting and that involves getting you pre-approved for a mortgage.

The First Step.

The first thing that we need to do is get you Pre approved. Your pre-approval will tell you what you can afford and what your monthly payment will be, so it’s important to determine this before you start searching for your new home. Dreaming is fun but knowing the facts puts you in a place that is safe. A mortgage lender will be able to take your financial information and determine what amount you will be able to borrow. Having your pre-approval letter in hand before we start searching will save us time and make sure we don’t miss out on the perfect home opportunity. The pre-approval letter will accompany an offer.

The last thing I would ever want for you is to find a home that you absolutely love only to find out that it is not affordable. So before we even get to that point lets walk you through the preapproval process.

The process

A Pre-approval is good for anywhere between 30-90 days, so once you’re ready, take these first 3 steps to get it done.

  1.  Contact me, and I’ll send over a list of lenders I know, like, trust and have worked with.
  2.  Look over the list, check out online reviews, and ask friends and family for referrals.
  3.  Email 2-3 lenders you like or let me introduce you over email.

Once you’ve got your pre-approval letter in hand, it’s time to start the search!

Have Cash?!

If you’ve got the money in the bank and you are ready to purchase your home in
cash, that’s great. I will inform you as to your closing costs and we will need a proof of
funds to supplement any offers. You can acquire a proof of funds from your
financial advisor or your banker to show that you have a balance that meets the purchase price.

Let the search begin.

Once you’ve got your finances in order, the fun of looking for the perfect home
begins! Pause… Before we hop into the home search, I like to advise my clients to create a ‘Needs’ list and a ‘Wants’ list. This will help us to really focus on the things that are most important in your future home.

Needs are the non-negotiable features; the features you simply must have in your next home. Wants are the ones you’d like to have, but you can add or change down the road. Remember, you can’t change the lot or the location so make sure you love both.

Once we have the needs vs wants list established I will then set you up on an automatic search through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is the database that Realtors use to list and search for homes.
The moment a home that fits your search criteria is listed for sale, it will be sent to
your email inbox. If we ever need to adjust the search criteria, just let me know and I can make any change you need. Make sure to let me know which homes pique your interest; send me listings you like and I can get more information. From there we will set up some showings, in my opinion that’s where the fun part begins.

Have you found, the one?!

After touring houses and choosing the one you love, it’s time to make an offer. To do this, you’ll need your pre-approval letter or proof of funds. We then write up an offer that you feel comfortable with and submit it to the listing/ selling agent.

As soon as we have an executed contract, you will have approximately 3 days to get the Escrow (or good faith) Deposit to the title company. The deposit is usually 1-2% of the purchase price to put down upfront. An escrow deposit shows the seller you are serious about the purchase.

What happens with the money?

The title company holds it up until closing, then it will be counted towards your balance due at closing.

Request more information.

This is the first step in the process of buying your first home. It gives you a summary of what to expect during the beginning process. If you have more questions about buying a home or what happens after making an offer? Reach out to me today!

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KiKi Williams

St. Louis & St Charles County Real Estate Agent

| 314-912-5287  |

moreinfo@kikiwilliamsrealestate.com

950 Caledonia Dr, O’Fallon, MO 63368