You have a house under contract. Congratulations! Now the real fun begins!
There are pitfalls that can ruin a home purchase at just about every turn. In this section, we’ll go over some of these, as well as get you to the closing table.
After Contract, Step 1, the Home Inspection
Home inspections are optional, but they should really be a requirement to purchasing a home. Always, ALWAYS get a home inspection. It’s the best $250-$400 you will EVER spend. I get asked the question all the time, “What about new homes? Surely I don’t need one on a new home!” First, I say “Don’t call me Shirley” (kudos if you know where that’s from), then I say “ESPECIALLY on a new home.” There are several good reasons why, but those are for another post. In my seven years selling real estate and HUNDREDS of home inspections, I have NEVER, NOT ONCE, seen a spotless home inspection. New house or old house, it doesn’t matter. The home inspector boogeyman will get you for something.
As far as the inspection is concerned, the buyer only has to worry about setting it up. You are free to choose any company you like. I can recommend several companies that have performed very well for me, but I can’t choose a specific one for you. Once you select the inspector, I coordinate the rest. I let the inspector in the home, get the report, discuss repairs with the buyer, set up the request for repairs, negotiate the repairs, and help you keep a check on them to make sure that they get done and get done correctly.
Our standard board contracts are written to protect the buyer when it comes to a home inspection. If there are any major health, structural, or safety issues associated with the home, you have two options. 1. Have the seller repair them or 2. Walk away from the contract, and take your earnest money with you. The home inspector provides a report within a day or so detailing all of the issues with the home, and he usually has them labeled as to how urgent they are. Cosmetic issues will be noted in the home inspection, but the seller is not required to make cosmetic repairs and you are not allowed to walk away from the sale over cosmetic issues.
Not coincidentally, the rest of the loan process is predicated on the home inspection results. The lender usually won’t even send out the appraiser until after a satisfactory home inspection or satisfactory repairs are agreed upon. The home inspection is one of the main reasons for issues buying a home. If you make it past the home inspection unscathed, you’re well on your way.
After Contract, Step 2, the Appraisal
The appraisal, as far as importance is concerned, ranks right of there with the home inspection and getting approved for a loan when it comes to buying a home. Like I mentioned above, after the inspection is complete and repairs are agreed upon, the lender will send the appraiser out. Government backed loans, like FHA or VA, require that the home appraise for AT LEAST the sales price or you have the option to walk away. In the Huntsville area, we’re fortunate that we don’t have very many appraisal issues with value, but that doesn’t mean it never happens.
One more thing to keep in mind about appraisals: If you think you’ve just found the best deal in the land way below market value, you make it through the inspection, and the appraisal comes in $5,000 over the sales price while you were expecting $25,000 over the sales price, don’t panic. It’s normal. Appraisers HATE to appraise a home for much more than the sales price. On average, not matter if the home is worth much more, you’ll generally see appraisals come in from $1,000 to $5,000 over the sales price. It’s VERY rare to see more than that.
After Contract, Step 3, the Wait
When steps one and two are complete, the buyer’s job is pretty much complete until the day or so before closing. There’s usually a quiet period here where not much goes on. The attorney is working on the title search, the lender is waiting for the appraiser to submit his findings, the seller is getting their affairs in order, the agent is helping coordinate the previous things, and the buyer just kind of waits. It’s normal. Just be patient 
After Contract, Step 4, the Final Walkthrough
If you’ve gotten this far, there’s a 95% chance everything is going to work out. We usually do what’s called a final walkthrough the day of, or the night before closing. The purpose of this is to walk the property, make sure all repairs were completed, make sure the owners didn’t create any problems prior to leaving, and make sure all of the major systems of the home are still in working order. This usually takes 15-20 minutes and there are rarely any problems.
After Contract, Step 5, the Closing
It’s the day you’ve been waiting on for 2-4 weeks. By the end of the day, you will own a new home….hopefully! Even this far into the process, things can go wrong. Discrepancies in interest rates, fees, documentation, verification of employment, and many other things could potentially complicate the closing or postpone it. If, after you look over all the fees and costs, everything looks good, you start signing!
Closings generally take between 30 minutes and an hour. A lot of it depends on the buyer. Some like to read EVERY document in the package and a closing can take four hours. While it’s their right to do so, all of the documentation is pretty standard and the attorney gives you a summary of each page as he hands it to you.
After signing your name 100 times or so, you finally own the home!!!! Go move in!!!
See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?
Extremely Fine see. Offers Gives thanks for this.