Always There For You
Buying & Selling
Purchasing A Home
As your Realtor, I am here to guide and help you get into your dream home. Here is an outline ofthe process which may seem complicated at times, but please know I am always here to answer any questions you may have. I am always happy to help!
1. Find a Lender
We need to have an approval letter ready because when you find the PERFECT home we need to be able to jump on it immediately. Here is a list of lenders I recommend or if you already have a lender, that is great too!
- HNB Mortgage – Suzanne Smith or Matt Dunham 432.683.0081 2101 W Wadley Ave #36, Midland, TX 79705
- Prime Lending – Lindsey Masch or Nikki Thompson 432.689.2559 3510 N Midkiff Rd Ste. 200, Midland, TX 79705
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Thrive Mortgage – Melissa Wicker 432.294.6944 15 Smith Road, Suite 2002, Midland, TX 79705
If paying with cash, we will just need a letter from your bank stating the funds are available. Typically, once the offer is accepted and the contract is signed by both parties you will have 10-15 days after that executed date to make sure you are approved. After that time period if you are not approved for the amount of the sales price your earnest money may be lost.
2. Find The Home
Buying a home is one of the biggest investments you will make in your lifetime and I am here to help you find the home of your dreams. Realtor.com or Zillow.com are great resources to research online as well. I also have access to MLS, which gives us access to any home in Midland for sale that is listed in Multiple Listing Services.
3. Make An Offer
We will send in our offer, a preapproval letter and two checks:
- Option money ($250 – $500) Purchases a 10 period that for any reason you can say, “I don’t want
this house” and your earnest money will NOT be lost. - Earnest money (1% of sale price of house) this money goes to the title company into an escrow
account and will be credited back to your purchase.
Once the offer is approved by the seller(s) and contract has been signed by all parties then you are under contract. The contract will have an executed date.
4. Option Period
Once the contract has been executed the option period begins and we will schedule necessary inspections. I encourage the buyers to schedule the inspections so you can shop around and choose who you would like to use but I am always here to help as well.
5. Reports
After we receive our reports for inspections we will ask for any repairs that are needed/wanted and will negotiate from there if needed. The sellers may not repair all items you ask them to. We are only looking for major issues to the home, not cosmetic.
6. Insurance
Now you will need to shop for your insurance. Once you have found the company you would like to go with we will need to get the insurance inspector out to make sure the home is insurable.
7. Appraisal and Survey
We will wait on the appraisal and survey which is ordered by your lender.
8. Title Policy
Then we will receive the title commitment, which insures you are purchasing a clean, clear title. The title policy is issued by the abstract company, for example from West Texas Abstract or Lone Star Abstract.
9. Closing
Finally, we will schedule our buyer’s walk through for the day before or the morning of the closing to make sure everything looks good. The scheduled closing appointment will be held at the title company where you (and your spouse) will sign all the necessary paperwork (there is a lot). Be sure to bring your drivers license or state issued I.D. and be prepared to spend 45-60 minutes signing and going over the documents. Once the financing has gone through (usually takes 1-3 hours) and the house is “funded” it is then officially yours!!! Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or my team with any questions!
See what we can do to help you
Selling A Home
As your Realtor, I am here to guide and help you sell your home. Here is an outline of the process which may seem complicated at times, but please know I am always here to answer any questions you may have. I am always happy to help!
1. Prepare your Home & Paperwork
We will need to show your home and want it to look it’s very best for potential buyers. It is important to make sure your home and yard is clean and clear of clutter before we take photos or show your home. It will also be important to maintain your home ‘show ready’ until we close. We will schedule a professional photographer to take pictures of your home so we can make flyers, post online, and on social media to reach as many potential buyers as possible.
2. Showing Your Home
Buyers will want to see your home one or more times before making an offer and we will coordinate with you to schedule those. We may also want to host an open house and invite buyers to come see the home. For showings and open houses it is usually best if the house is clean and clutter free with no residents (or pets) present. We want to make it easy for potential Buyers to see themselves in your home and want it to look as attractive as possible.
3. Get Offers
Depending on the market and other factors we will hopefully get multiple offers for your home. We may want to negotiate with the potential buyers on price, closing costs or closing date. Once we accept an offer there will be a contract to sign, and then we go ‘under contract’ and the option period begins.
4. Option Period
Once the contract has been executed the option period begins and we will schedule necessary inspections.
5. Reports
After we receive our reports for inspections the buyers may ask for any repairs that are needed/wanted and will negotiate from there if needed. We may not have to repair all items requested though, the Buyers should only be looking for major issues to the home, not cosmetic.
6. Appraisal and Survey
We will wait on the appraisal and survey which is ordered by the Buyer’s lender.
7. Title Policy
The Buyer’s will then receive the title commitment, which insures they are purchasing a clean, clear title. The title policy is issued by the abstract company, for example from West Texas Abstract or Lone Star Abstract.
8. Closing
Finally, we will schedule one last Buyer’s walk through for the day before or the morning of the closing to make sure the house is clear, clean and no major changes or damage has been done to the house that might change its value. The scheduled closing appointment will be held at the title company where you (and your spouse) will sign all the necessary paperwork. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or state issued I.D. and be prepared to spend 45-60 minutes signing and going over the documents. Once the financing has gone through (usually takes 1-3 hours) and the house is “funded” it is then officially sold!!!