The 5 Things You Need to Buy a Home

If you’re looking to buy a home, these are five things that you will need.

Looking to sell your home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

Looking to buy a home? Click here to search all local homes for sale.

If you’re looking to buy a home, these are five things that you will need: 

1. A mortgage pre-approval: You should rely on your real estate professional to give you some advice on who might be a good lender to use, but most Realtors like myself won’t show buyers homes until we have a pre-approval from a good lender.

2. Earnest money: This will sit in an escrow account to be applied to a down payment. Typical earnest money will run between 1% to 2% of the purchase price of the home you’re looking at.

3. Money for a down payment: Unless you’re a qualified veteran, down payments will range anywhere from 3.5% to 20% of the sale price of the home you’re looking at.

Most Realtors won’t show buyers homes until we have a pre-approval from a good lender.

4. Money for closing costs: In some situations, we’re able to get the seller to pick up the closing costs for the buyer, but that will also increase the price you pay for the home. Typical closing costs for a mortgage will be about 3% of the purchase price. 

5. Money for the home inspection: Typical home inspections today will cost between $350 to $500, depending on whether or not you choose to have a radon inspection. The inspector will expect to get paid at the time he does the home inspection.

If you have any questions about what you need to buy a house, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to assist you.

The Latest From the Twin Cities Real Estate Market

What's going on in the Twin Cities market? We're seeing some interesting trends, so I wanted to give you a quick update.

Looking to sell your home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

Looking to buy a home? Click here to search all local homes for sale.

A lot's going on here in the Twin Cities market, so I wanted to give you a quick update.

New listings are down about 8% from last year to roughly 8,000 homes for sale on the market. The number of active listings stands at about 11,000 right now, which is a decrease of about 20% compared to this time last year. Pending units—homes that have gone under contract but have not yet closed—stand at about 6,000, which is an 8% decrease from this time last year.

Inventory is down and home values are up.

This is all probably due to the lack of inventory on the market.

The median home price has jumped up to $246,000, which is a 6% increase from where we were at this time last year. The average days on market, or the average amount of time it takes a home to sell, is at 58 days currently. That's also an improvement from last year.

The final and perhaps most interesting recent statistic from our market is that in the last 30 days, 22% of properties in the marketplace had some kind of price adjustment.

If you have any questions about our market or any specific neighborhoods, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be glad to help however I can!

Our Newest Buyer’s Agent Walks You Through the Home Buying Process

Our newest team member has some important advice on the home buying process and how you can move into your dream home.

Looking to sell your home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

Looking to buy a home? Click here to search all local homes for sale.

Today I’m joined by JJ, one of our buyer’s agents and our newest team member, so he can introduce himself and tell you what you need to know about the home buying process.

As a buyer’s agent, JJ meets with clients who are seeking their dream home and consults with them to understand all their expectations and desires so they can hit the ground running to start their home search.

Once you’ve found a home you like, your first step is to present a strong offer. According to JJ, a strong offer starts with being pre-approved. If you don’t have a pre-approval in place or a pre-approval letter ready to present, your offer won’t be seriously considered. Make sure you’re working with a lender and you have a pre-approval letter that you can attach to any offer you make.

We’ll help walk you through the process.

After your offer is accepted, next comes the home inspection process. This will give you a feel for the home, from the foundation to the roof to everything in between. Keep in mind that you have to have your inspection completed within a certain amount of days, though. In a typical contract JJ writes up, his clients’ inspections happen within 10 to 14 days.

In addition to the inspection, you must also present amendments to the sellers if there are things about the home you need to have fixed. To that point, JJ has many people at his disposal that will work on your behalf to ensure your new home is deemed safe and healthy. Lastly, you need to beware of radon. Radon is a colorless, odorless gas that emanates from the soil and has been proven to cause cancer. If the house you want to buy has high radon readings, you want to properly address that with an amendment to the seller after the inspection process. In this situation, JJ will fight for his buyers to make sure a mitigation system is installed properly. We want you to be a client not just for this home, but for future homes as well. If you have any other questions about the home buying process, feel free to give us a call. We’d be happy to help you.